Patty Murray: “Mr. President, I must rise today to support a program that some in this body may argue is unnecessary, but that the…”

“Mr. President, I must rise today to support a program that some in this body may argue is unnecessary, but that the American people wholeheartedly support. As we debate the very difficult question of eliminating funds to various agencies, it frustrates me that some of my colleagues blindly lump the Corporation for Public Broadcasting into a general pool of rescissions. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a true public service, owned by the American people. What other Government program can we claim reaches 99 percent of all Americans? Since 1967, CPB has developed public telecommunications services of the highest quality to serve the American people. All of us on this floor agonize over what serves the taxpayer most. Certainly, public broadcasting has proven itself as a national asset supporting television and radio stations in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. Last year, CPB funded 351 public television stations and 629 public radio stations. Each week NPR touches the lives of 16 million listeners and more than 100 million viewers tune in to PBS weekly. The numbers show that CPB is a Government program that works, and serves the people of this country. It is one program where the American taxpayer is actually seeing a return on their dollar.”