Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “I have an amendment that reduces the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by 1 percent. Let me begin by…”

“I have an amendment that reduces the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by 1 percent. Let me begin by saying that it is unfortunate that the last authorization for the CPB expired in 1996 and, as a result, in the failure of the authorization process, the Committee on Appropriations has basically been appropriating funds for CPB during that time, including today's bill. The CPB funding makes up approximately 14 percent of public broadcasting's budget. Last year's appropriations bill increased CPB spending by some $10 million and this year the bill that my friend from Illinois brought forward has another $15 million increase. With this kind of increase each year that appropriators have provided for CPB, I would argue that it leaves little room or any incentive for reform by CPB. And, indeed, they need reform. All of us are familiar with last year's fiasco, when it became obvious that PBS had swapped donor names with Democrats for a number of years and affected thousands and thousands of members of public broadcasting stations all over the country.”