WASHINGTON – February 10, 2020 – America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) president and CEO Patrick Butler issued the following statement on President Trump’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 budget released today:
“America’s Public Television Stations are disappointed that President Trump’s FY 2021 budget proposal once again recommends eliminating federal funding for public media.
“We will continue to make our case with the Administration that public television plays a vital role in American education, public safety and civic leadership, in hundreds of communities across the country.
“We provide the only preschool education for more than half of America’s children. We are the backbone of public safety communications networks at the local, State and national levels. And we do more than anyone else to equip America’s citizens for the challenging and rewarding work of democracy.
“Fortunately, Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate understand these contributions -- and our impressive return on the federal investment -- very well. We are grateful that in FY 2020, Congress approved the first increase for public broadcasting funding in over a decade, and we are hopeful that Congress will again increase funding for public media in this year’s appropriations cycle and beyond, to restore the nearly $100 million in purchasing power public broadcasting lost over a decade of frozen funding.
“We live in hope that the Administration will ultimately appreciate that federal funding is essential to local public television stations’ ability to pursue their critical public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership, and to provide these services to everyone, everywhere, every day, for free.”
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and civic leadership to the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org