Though CPB and many other relatively small federal outlays could get whacked or seriously trimmed in the forthcoming scrum of Supercommittee deficit maneuvering, a Democrat-controlled Senate Appropriations subcommittee yesterday approved an increase in the advance appropriation for 2014. If CPB survives 'til then, it would receive $445 million, the same as appropriated for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 but $6 million below President Obama's request, according to CPB. (This year's sum is $430 million.)
The action was taken in subcommittee markup of the Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill for next year. In addition, CPB would receive $6 million for digital projects, and the Department of Education would receive $27.2 million for Ready to Learn. The full Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the bill tomorrow. House Appropriations Committee has indefinitely delayed action on its comparable bill.
The Senate committee explained in its news release why the FY2014 funds are being discussed when Congress is just beginning to consider FY2012 funding: "The committee maintains two-year advance funding, which has been in place since 1975 to ensure the independence of public broadcasting programming."
Quants may enjoy a gander at CPB's appropriations box score over the years.
Thanks for the update. It is worth noting that it is not just Democrats who are starting to stand up for public media. Members of Free Press and SaveTheNews.org met with members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle. We got great feedback about people's support for maintaining funding for NPR and PBS.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the Super Congress - we just launched our first action in a series of efforts to make sure we can keep public media safe. Please join us.
http://act2.freepress.net/sign/protect_public_media_pledge