OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department Of Labor, Health And Human Services, And Education, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

Date: July 18, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Labor Unions Health and Health Care Education


DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 18, 2007)

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Mr. BLUMENAUER. I appreciate the gentleman's eloquence and his courtesy in allowing me to speak on this. And he is absolutely right; there has been a longstanding process of advanced funding to give our public broadcasting stations the ability to move forward.

He talks about it only being 15 percent of the budget. That 15 percent of the budget is critical, particularly for small and rural areas. There will always be public broadcasting in Denver or San Francisco or New York, but this money, these grants speak to the very heart of the ability to deal with sparsely populated areas from coast to coast. These are the people that would be punished if this ill-advised amendment were passed.

And, last but not least, he advances the notion that somehow this is just providing entertainment. I would strongly suggest that the gentleman offering this amendment go visit his public broadcasting system, because you will find that it is not just entertainment. Public broadcasting is culture, it is education, it is public safety. Indeed, this is the backbone in many parts of the country of emergency communications network. The notion that somehow this is only Big Bird and entertainment, and all we have got to do is commercialize public broadcasting more, misses the essence of why we have broad bipartisan support for public broadcasting.

I strongly urge rejection of this ill-advised amendment on behalf of 110 bipartisan members of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, over 100 of whom signed the letter to the appropriators supporting this budget. It is the 15 percent that is most critical for rural America. It is the advanced funding that provides the stability for things like the Ken Burns commentary. And it is not about just providing entertainment, it is education, it is culture, it is public safety. Public broadcasting is providing a voice for America, a noncommercial independent voice that is too often sadly lacking. It isn't available anyplace else in the gazillion channels on our cable networks.

And I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy.

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