CPB Funding Survives

After threats and legislative attempts by Republicans to zero out Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding, the continuing resolution that passed the House and Senate April 14 keeps the dollars flowing to noncommercial radio and television stations.

The CR, which funds the government through September, forward funds CPB through 2013 at the annual 2012 figure of $445 million, preserving the two-year forward funding mechanism Republicans had targeted. Also preserved was a $27.2 million Ready To Learn program funded through the Department of Education, though the final decision on that funding remains at the discretion at DOE. But CPB did not emerge unscathed. The legislation cuts funding in other areas, including: $30 million of $36 million for expanding digital technologies; $20 million by zeroing out the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, a Commerce grant that funds noncommercial TV and radio equipment; and $50 million by zeroing out public radio interconnection and station fiscal stabilization funds.