WASHINGTON—A little less than a month after the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved funding for public broadcasting, the U.S. House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee has followed suit.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee recommended level funding of $445 million for the 2019 Fiscal Year for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under its two-year advance funding mechanism, the same amount recommended by the Senate. The subcommittee also recommended $10 million in the 2017 Fiscal Year as an investment in the new public broadcasting interconnection system. The bipartisan effort was led by subcommittee chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) and ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).
“We remain hopeful that as the appropriations process runs its course, full funding of $50 million will be provided for the interconnection system and $25.7 million for Ready to Learn, public Television’s unique national-local partnership with a proven record of helping America’s children get ready to learn in school and succeed in life—and helping close the educational achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers,” said America’s Public Television Stations President and CEO Patrick Butler.
“But we are most grateful that today’s Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee mark-up demonstrates support for public broadcasting across the political spectrum. We are determined to earn that support every day in communities across America.”
