As a founding member of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, Congressman Blumenauer has been a leading voice in the effort to ensure that all communities, large and small, have universal access to public broadcasting. As Congress looks to pass another Continuing Resolution, the new majority wants to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Congressman Blumenauer has authored a letter (PDF) urging House leaders to restore funding to CPB, and is working hard to ensure our local public broadcasting stations will still be able to bring us high-quality, free programming such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Sesame Street. If cut, many in small towns and rural America would be denied the opportunity to hear or see public broadcasting at all. Congressman Blumenauer introduced an amendment to H.R. 1 , the Continuing Budget Resolution, to restorefunding to Public Broadcasting.

Every month, more than 170 million Americans choose to have their lives enriched by tuning in to their local public radio or TV stations. These stations give our communities a voice by covering local news and events in ways that newspapers cannot and commercial TV and radio stations do not. Together, thanks to federal support, public broadcasting reaches every major city and most small towns in America.

More importantly, public broadcasters employ more than 17,000 people, providing family-wage jobs in every state. This successful public-private partnership only represents .0001% of the federal budget and costs the average American less than half a cent a day. In many rural areas, however, this funding is absolutely essential for the survival of local stations since it can amount to as much as 40-50% of their budgets.

Congressman Blumenauer also led a Special Order on the House Floor defending Public Broadcasting.