McDermott Opposes Funding Cuts to Public Broadcasting

On June 23, 2005, I released the following statement announcing my strong opposition to a provision in the FY 2006 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill that drastically cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB):

Public broadcasting is a national treasure. Now, some in Congress are trying to destroy the quality and unbiased programming from PBS, NPR, and other publicly funded media sources that we have come to rely on.

Worse yet, this is appears to be the first step in an agenda dedicated to ending all federal funding for public broadcasting. Step one, weaken the CPB by pursuing across-the-board cuts, then eliminate the CPB altogether by ending all federal funding by 2007. In a time where commercial media is increasingly owned by a few large corporations, funding for public broadcasting should be protected, not taken away.

People around the country, from the largest cities to the smallest towns, depend on public broadcasting. I will fight against this damaging cut in funding for the CPB.

Revision date: June 27, 2005