Introduces Bill to End Taxpayer Funding of Public Television, Radio

Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) today called for the federal government to make tough choices with spending and get serious about cutting our national debt. He introduced H.R. 5538,  a bill that would cut all federal taxpayer funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) after 2012. CPB is the parent company of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the National Public Radio (NPR).

 In 2010, taxpayers subsidized CPB to the tune of $420 million. CPB has requested $608 million for their next funding cycle that begins in 2013. CPB is a non-profit that receives about 13 percent of its funding from taxpayers.

 If enacted, this bill would save taxpayers about $450 million each year.

“Four-hundred-and-twenty million dollars is almost a half-billion dollars. That is serious money. It may not seem like a lot of money to some people out of a $13 trillion dollar national debt, but if we don’t take the low-hanging fruit, then where else will we save the money? If we are going to get our deficit under control, we have to make tough choices.

“Government spending is out of control and Obama’s method of throwing more money at our economy is not working. Federal spending cuts need to start somewhere. CPB may produce worthwhile content. That is not the issue. The issue is we cannot subsidize organizations that can stand on their own two feet in the day of trillion dollar deficits.”– Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05)

The bill has already received the backing of three of the nation’s most prominent grassroots organizations that focus on saving taxpayer dollars and reducing the size of government: the National Taxpayer’s Union, Club for Growth, and Americans for Limited Government.

“I think in this current environment in the United States the original intent behind public broadcasting is no longer relevant. Public broadcasting was originally enacted when there were three network television channels and limited access to news and information. Today there are literally hundreds of cable channels and thousands of blogs and Internet sites from any number of credible entities.

“Spending on public broadcasting is a total luxury. It is a luxury in the sense that this is not something people can’t get other places. Clearly there isn’t enough of a market for it because if there were, it wouldn’t need government taxpayer money just to pay its salaries and pay its overhead.”–Bill Wilson, president, Americans for Limited Government

Background:See below.

Quick Facts on Taxpayer Subsidized Public Broadcasting

•  American taxpayers are subsidizing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to the tune of over $420 million dollars in 2010 alone. 
•  The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been appropriated $445 million dollars for FY’12 and has requested $604 million for FY’13.
•  Congress continues to appropriate funding well beyond the rate of inflation: over the past decade, funding for public broadcasting has risen over 26%.
•  With the national debt over $13 trillion dollars, the government cannot continue to fund non-essential services.
•  Although the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private, non-profit organization that raises its own funds through other sources, over 13% of its total income is taxpayer money.
•  While the Corporation for Public Broadcasting airs several quality programs, it is perfectly capable of standing on its own two feet and not on the financial shoulders of the American taxpayers.
•  Losing 13% of its revenue will not make PBS and NPR disappear. Businesses and non-profits deal with this sort of revenue loss all the time—especially in the midst of this recession.
•  Furthermore, federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is no longer relevant. The intent of federally-funded public broadcasting in the Public Broadcasting Act was to make “telecommunications services available to all citizens of the United States” (47 U.S.C. 396). 
•  Today, over 99% of Americans own a TV and over 95% have access to the Internet. Government-funded broadcasting is now completely unnecessary in a world of 500-channel cable TV and cell phone internet access.

  Click here for a video clip of Congressman Lamborn being interviewed by Americans for Limited Government.