WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 27, 2024 – The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies today recommended zeroing out public media funding in its FY 2025 appropriations bill.
The bill reported out of the subcommittee today would provide no funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), effective in FY 2027, a cut of $535 million from the current appropriation.
There is also no funding for system interconnection and infrastructure for FY 2025, a cut of $60 million from current levels.
The bill does not include information on funding for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America.
“America’s Public Television Stations are profoundly disappointed and mystified that the subcommittee has once again proposed to eliminate federal funding for public media in the FY 2025 appropriations bill,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler.
“We’re the only preschool education there is for more than half of America’s children. We’re the backbone of the national Wireless Alert System, and we’re partners in public safety initiatives from Maryland to California. We’re the last local media chronicling life in heartland America and the ‘C-SPAN’ of state governments. And the American people consistently rank us among the best investments the government makes, after only national defense and food and drug safety.
“Yet here we are, still struggling to maintain a federal appropriation that amounts to about $1.60 per American. We remain hopeful that the strong bipartisan support for public media, both in Congress and among the American people, will ultimately result in full funding for CPB, system interconnection and infrastructure, and Ready To Learn as the appropriations process moves forward,” said Butler.
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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