CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING Appropriations Language for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting "PUBLIC BROADCASTING FUND" [For payment to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as authorized by the Communications Act of 1934, an amount which shall be available within limitations specified by that Act, for the fiscal year 1989, $228,000,000: Provided, That no funds made available to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by this Act shall be used to pay for receptions, parties, or similar forms of entertainment for government officials or employees: Provided further, That none of the funds contained in this paragraph shall be available or used to aid or support any program or activity from which any person is excluded, or is denied benefits, or is discriminated against, on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex.] Of the funds made available under this head in the Departments of CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING JUSTIFICATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS Introduction Congress appropriates funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) two years in advance of the year for which the funds are to be made available by the U.S. Treasury. Advance appropriations have allowed public broadcasters to enter into multi-year production commitments that are necessary to develop and produce programming such as Eyes on the Prize and Square One TV, highlights of this spring's public broadcasting schedule. By firmly establishing a federal contribution to public broadcasting two years before the budget year in which the funds become available, Congress has provided public broadcasting with the fiscal foundation it needs to attract other, nonfederal support that presently contributes 83 cents of every dollar raised by the system. Two-year advance federal funding for CPB was adopted by Congress in 1975 (when it appropriated funds for Fiscal Year 1977) and has become a critical element in the federal, state, local, and private partnership now underwriting America's public telecommunications system. Consistent with the intent of advance appropriations, Congress has enacted and the President has signed into law an appropriation of $214.0 million for CPB for Fiscal Year 1988 (P.L. 99-178) and $228.0 million for Fiscal Year 1989 (P.L. 99-500 and P. L. 591). CPB therefore urges Congress to continue advance funding for public Furthermore, CPB urges Congress to reject the proposal, included in the President's FY 1988 Budget, to "reappropriate" funds from Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 into Fiscal Year 1990 in lieu of appropriating new funds for that year. The Administration's proposal to reduce drastically funds already appropriated by Congress in order to avoid the need to request new funds for Fiscal Year 1990 threatens the very stability envisioned by Congress when advance appropriations were first enacted. Stations throughout the system have, or are now adopting, operating budgets for Fiscal Year 1988 based on the assumption that the full $214 million appropriated for Fiscal Year 1988 would be available to CPB and stations in the system and that the $228 million for Fiscal Year 1989 will be forthcoming. A proposal to cut the federal contribution to public broadcasting 20 percent less than four months before the start of their budget years violates the purpose of advance funding. In the absence of stronger federal support, public broadcasting has made an extraordinary effort to get maximum value out of every available federal dollar. The continued success of this effort is tied to our ability to depend on the federal contribution, especially after appropriations have been set by law. Stations use federal funds primarily to produce or acquire programming. High quality, informative programming attracts corporate support, wider audiences, and the additional private support needed to make the system work. For example, within the next year CPB and public television stations will start to bring to American audiences over $10 million worth of new public affairs programming developed by Bill Moyers. The Television Programming Challenge Fund (jointly started by CPB and PBS member stations in FY 1987) put up the first $2 million to bring Moyers and his program ideas to public television. That initial commitment of $2 million attracted $8 million in nonfederal support that was not available to Moyers until public broadcasting demonstrated its own commitment to the project. Projects such as the Moyers programming also demonstrate the funding timeline faced by the public broadcasting system. Bringing quality programming like Eyes on the Prize and Square One TV to audiences takes time as well as money. Public broadcasters established the Challenge Fund in FY 1986, based on the federal appropriations enacted and available for FY 1987 and beyond. The decision to fund the Moyers project was made in December 1986, and productions from the agreement will air for the first time between 1987 and 1989. Program producers must have some known levels of cash support to attract the ideas and talent needed to produce high quality radio and television programming. The federal contribution to public broadcasting, though less than 17 percent of all public broadcasting income, provides that initial cash support used to build projects such as the Bill Moyers specials. Appropriation of the full $254 million authorized for Fiscal Year 1990 will allow CPB and public radio and television stations throughout the country to continue to develop and deliver quality programming to their audiences. This programming that will help inform and educate radio and television audiences into the middle of the 1990's. The Administration's Budget Proposal In August 1986, CPB requested through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that the President include in his proposed Fiscal Year 1988 Budget a request that Congress appropriate $254.0 million to CPB for Fiscal Year 1990. That request was denied in November 1986, and a subsequent appeal to the President was also The President's Fiscal Year 1988 Budget proposes that Congress appropriate no funds to CPB in Fiscal Year 1990 and that Congress "reappropriate" to Fiscal Year 1990 funds already appropriated to the Public Broadcasting Fund for Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989. Also, the Administration's five year planning budget (for Fiscal Years 1988-1992) assumes that funding for CPB would be further reduced to $60 million by Fiscal Year 1992. Specifically, the President has asked Congress to "reappropriate" $44.0 million currently available for Fiscal Year 1988 and $88.0 million for Fiscal Year 1989. These reappropriated funds would not be available to CPB until Fiscal Year 1990 when they would be available in lieu of an appropriation of Fiscal Year 1990 funds. The Administration's proposal would undermine the long established system of predictable long range funding established by Congress in 1975 as a response to the unique responsibilities required of public broadcasting. It would jeopardize the mechanism public broadcasting uses to leverage nonfederal money, money that makes up over 83 percent of total revenues. The proposal would also back away from the agreement between Congress and public broadcasters that, in exchange for some limited measure of predictable and protected financing from the federal government, public broadcasters would raise from other sources the vast majority of funds needed to fulfill their public mandate. The Administration's request, if enacted, would sharply reduce the federal contribution to public broadcasting in the United States well below levels recently established by Congress and accepted by the President as appropriate levels of federal support for public broadcasting for Fiscal Years 1988 through 1990. The proposed levels would also significantly reduce the multiplier effect federal appropriations hahave had on public broadcasting revenues and would further limit the ability of CPB and public radio and television stations to attract needed program production support from other funders. 72-860 0-87-4 |