Farmers know you're not supposed to eat the corn you need to plant next year's crop. We need more farmers in Congress.
"We've got to keep our priorities straight," said Representative Ralph Regula , an Ohio Republican who is chairman of the appropriations panel that approved the cut. "You're going to choose between giving a little more money to handicapped children versus providing appropriations for public broadcasting."
Priorities my ass. You're the same guys that want to cancel the estate tax. PBS is the one universally beneficial thing to come out of television technology in this country.
Trust me, you don't want to lose the Sesame Street Effect. Seriously, how many folks have the time and skill to teach their kids all Sesame Street taught them? How many of those left have the money to hire a tutor?
GOP takes aim at PBS funding
House panel backs budget reductions
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | June 8, 2006
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans yesterday revived their efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting, as a key committee approved a $115 million reduction in the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs.
On a party-line vote, the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health and education funding approved the cut to the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. It would reduce the corporation's budget by 23 percent next year, to $380 million, in a cut that Republicans said was necessary to rein in government spending.
The reduction, which would come in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, must be approved by the full Appropriations Committee, and then the full House and Senate, before it could take effect. Democrats and public broadcasting advocates began planning efforts to reverse the cut.
A similar move last year by Republican leaders was turned back in a fierce lobbying campaign launched by Public Broadcasting Service stations and Democratic members of Congress, in a debate that was colored by some Republicans' frustration with what they see as a liberal slant in public programming.
Still, Republicans say they remain adamant that public broadcasting cannot receive funding at the expense of healthcare and education programs.
Republicans are looking for ways to save taxpayers' dollars, amid fiscal conservatives' concerns over the budget deficit.
