WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) have issued a statement applauding Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) for recommending $565 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for Fiscal Year 2024.
The recommendation will likely serve as the basis for negotiations with the House of Representatives on the final appropriations bills. The House has already approved the same $565 million for CPB in the two-year advance funding for FY 2024.
APTS also noted that the draft Senate bill providing appropriations for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies also includes $30 million for Ready To Learn and $20 million for public broadcasting interconnection.
“This is an important day for public television,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “We lost $100 million in purchasing power over 10 years of flat federal funding, and this chairman’s mark would restore much of that loss — and with it our ability to provide the educational services, the public safety communications, the civic literacy and the beloved programming which millions of Americans need and value.”
Butler added that “we are also appreciative of the $20 million in FY 2022 for the annual station interconnection account, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, supporting nationwide emergency alerting, providing local stations with national programming, connecting stations with each other, and creating operational efficiencies. And we are grateful for the $30 million 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. This program has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers.”
