June 23, 2005

Congressman Akin’s Statement on Funding Levels for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) issued the following statement regarding his vote not to restore proposed funding levels for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“Although programming on public broadcasting is often educational and entertaining, we are living in an era of budgetary restraint. The bill appropriating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that I supported would have eliminated 57 federal programs altogether and made cuts of up to 50 percent in a number of others.

“Federal monies provide only 14 percent of public broadcasting’s total funding. The reduction I supported today amounted to a little over 20 percent of the CPB’s federal funding for the next fiscal year. In total, this is a funding reduction in the CPB’s overall budget of less than five percent.

“Some of my colleagues supported restoring the reduction in funding by eliminating nearly $60 million in job training funding and $40 million in funding for higher education and health-related programs. As the former chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Workforce Empowerment, I am extremely reluctant to cut funds for worker training and education.

“All of us would like to fund every program we like with as much money as we can. Yet we live in a time of war and high deficits, and we have to make choices about where we commit federal resources. I voted against the exorbitant Medicare bill in the fall of 2002 because, as events have demonstrated, it was a budget-buster. For that same reason – fiscal responsibility – I do not believe any federally-supported program should go without careful fiscal scrutiny.”

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