PBS BACK IN THE GUNSITES

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Cut all PBS funding, Republicans urge

Last Updated Thu, 20 Oct 2005 17:26:46 EDT

CBC Arts

There is a new call from Republican circles to pull all federal

funding to PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

As the White House scrambles to find ways to pay for an expensive

war in Iraq and the rebuilding of New Orleans, public broadcasting

is once again being offered up as an expense the American public can

possibly do without.

 

PBS television and radio receives $400 million US annually in

federal support.

 

The Republican Study Committee, a conservative group within the

caucus, recommended on Wednesday that it all be cut.

 

The U.S. deficit for 2005 has been projected to hit $314 billion and

another $200 billion might be necessary to rebuild New Orleans and

other Katrina-hit areas.

 

The Republican group is seeking ways to cut spending by $102 billion

this year.

 

The National Endowment for the Arts, which subsidizes ballet

companies, opera and the visual arts also is being targeted.

 

It hands out $125 million a year in government money and a growing

number of Republicans are talking about killing it.

 

One report says that the endowment often ends up funding artists who

are doing work that is questionable in its value and

appropriateness.

 

The endowment amended its funding policies over the past nine years

to promote more traditional arts, after an earlier attempt to cut

all its funding.

 

Congress overruled a proposal made by a House committee in June to

cut all government funding to PBS over a four-year period. However,

support for shows such as Sesame Street and Masterpiece Theatre has

been reduced.

 

 

RELATED STORY: Proposed funding cuts provoke PBS protest

 

PBS is currently 85 per cent supported by other sources, mainly

rs.

 

Republicans have criticized the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

which operates PBS, for " liberal bias " in its programming.

 

" Eliminating the federal share of CPB funding would free up $400

million this year, " said Gov. Haley Barbour, a Mississippi

Republican who needs to build schools in hurricane areas. " That is

enough money to build 40 elementary schools. "

 

A spending bill currently before the Congress and Senate is

proposing cuts to programs for middle- and low-income people,

including Medicaid and a plan to cover heating costs this winter.

 

Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for the Emergency Campaign for America's

Priorities, a group that opposes budget cuts, said the effort has

nothing to do with Katrina and everything to do with Republican

efforts to salvage tax cuts enacted by President Bush.

 

 

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