Cut all PBS funding, Republicans urge

[catinthedark]

Why does this so not surprise me?

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/nationa...ts_051020.html

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 subscribers.

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.