June 17, 2005
Dear Arts Advocate:
Yesterday the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved deep cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) but slightly improved the long term funding picture by striking efforts to completely eliminate funding by 2008. Immediate funding reductions in the FY 2006 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill include a $100 million cut for programs, elimination of $39 million to help local stations switch to digital transmission, $40 million to upgrade aging satellite technology, and a $23 million cut to the "Ready to Learn" program, which provides money for
the creation of shows such as "Sesame Street" and "Reading Rainbow." Please take just two minutes to write your Members of Congress and urge them to restore full funding to these crucial programs.
CPB supports public television through its partner, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). A trusted community resource, PBS brings quality programs and education services to nearly 100 million people each week. With community-based arts programming, and nationally televised shows such as “Masterpiece Theater,” “On Stage at the Kennedy Center,” and “Austin City Limits,” PBS is often the only source of arts programming in many rural parts of the country. Any reduction to its budget would drastically reduce the access that many Americans have to public broadcasting, and thus to the arts.
These cuts would also impact public radio broadcasting, as CPB funding represents 15 percent of the budget for many individual member stations of
National Public Radio (NPR). If they lose that support, many of them will have to make severe cuts to their programming and local services. This will especially impact rural areas
and stations serving minority populations, as they heavily rely on federal funding for their operating budgets. While local and state arts agencies also support these stations, they could not make up for a loss of federal funding on this scale.
The next step in the legislative process is for the full House to consider the bill, which could occur as early as next week. The House could reverse the action of the Appropriations Committee; failing that, the Senate will need to come to the rescue, at it did a decade ago when the House made a similar attempt to eliminate CPB funding. The Senate will probably begin consideration after July 4th.
We are aware that other public interest groups are circulating alerts and petitions; however, none of them specifically address the impact on the arts that these cuts would have. We feel that it's very important for Congress to hear the united voice of the arts in opposition to the proposed funding cuts to CPB. With your help, we can insure that CPB funding is saved, and that public television and radio can continue to provide high quality arts and cultural programming to our nation. Please visit our E-Advocacy Center to send a message to your Members of Congress protesting the proposed funding cuts.
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We encourage you to forward this email on to friends and colleagues who may be interested in this issue. If you have any questions, please contact Justin Beland, Government Affairs and Grassroots Manager, at jbeland@artsusa.org, or 202-371-2830.
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