June 10, 2005
Congress Shoots Big Bird
Yesterday, a house subcommittee carefully took aim at Big Bird, pulled the trigger and shot America's favorite pre-school teacher.
The goal is to kill all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting within two years.
What you can do: Since the subcommittee already voted, the next step is to call the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Jerry Lewis, and tell him how you feel about this.
Here's the list of the other members of this committee, with links to their sites for contact information.
You know what to do. Now do it, please.
Congress Shoots Big Bird
Yesterday, a house subcommittee carefully took aim at Big Bird, pulled the trigger and shot America's favorite pre-school teacher.
The goal is to kill all funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting within two years.
A House subcommittee voted yesterday to sharply reduce the federal government's financial support for public broadcasting, including eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite such popular children's educational programs as "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," "Arthur" and "Postcards From Buster."
In addition, the subcommittee acted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which passes federal funds to public broadcasters -- starting with a 25 percent reduction in CPB's budget for next year, from $400 million to $300 million.
In all, the cuts would represent the most drastic cutback of public broadcasting since Congress created the nonprofit CPB in 1967. The CPB funds are particularly important for small TV and radio stations and account for about 15 percent of the public broadcasting industry's total revenue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060902283.htmlWhat you can do: Since the subcommittee already voted, the next step is to call the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Jerry Lewis, and tell him how you feel about this.
Here's the list of the other members of this committee, with links to their sites for contact information.
You know what to do. Now do it, please.
