Funding Casualty of Katrina

[Sean Mota]

House Republicans Propose Elimination of CPB Funding
By Doug Halonen
House Republicans on Wednesday proposed to eliminate federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of a major initiative to help the government pay for the mammoth recovery costs associated with Hurricane Katrina.

In a report, the GOP lawmakers said that zeroing out CPB would save $400 million in fiscal 2006 and more than $5.5 billion over the next ten years. The report was issued by the House Republican Study Committee, a group of more than 100 Republicans that is chaired by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and is devoted to advancing a "conservative social and economic agenda."

In a statement, the study committee said the CPB cuts are part of what it is referring to as "Operation Offset," which pinpoints "specific options to find savings in the budget so that the reconstruction costs aren't passed on to our nation's children and grandchildren in the form of an enormous debt burden."

The dozens of cuts proposed in the report would save the federal government more than $1.2 trillion over 10 years, the group said. A spokesman said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other House leaders had yet to discuss specific proposals for federal program cuts. CPB distributes federal funding to public radio and TV stations.

from TVWEEK.COM

 

[CPanther95]

While I'm no fan of federally funding PBS, why not start with the $27 Billion in pork in the recent highway bill - or the vast amount of pork that must have slipped through the past 5 years of legislation passed without a veto ever being used?

While you're at it, let's also define exactly what financial responsibility the federal government should take on to rebuild New Orleans. The same standard should be applied as they would apply if there were 2 dozen homes destroyed by a tornado that touches down in Kansas.