CPB Statement on Funding Decisions by the United States House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 31, 2020) — Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), made the following statement: 

"Public media is more essential than ever as Americans look for trusted information to keep their families safe and healthy and for critical at-home learning resources for their children. We appreciate the House of Representatives’ strong bipartisan funding support of public media, providing $515 million for CPB’s FY 2023 advance appropriation. The federal appropriation to CPB is crucial to sustaining the operations and services of more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public media stations.

Every day, stations are providing new resources to underserved families to support distance learning, distributing alerts from local and state officials issuing guidance related to the pandemic, and reporting on the health and economic impact of COVID-19 on different communities. Americans continue to trust public media and are increasingly utilizing its services during this time of need. The federal investment will allow stations and the public media system to continue to innovate and deliver services that meet community needs.

We are also thankful for the House’s ongoing support of the public broadcasting interconnection system and the $30 million for the Department of Education’s Ready to Learn program, which supports educational public media content for our nation’s youngest learners, especially those living in underserved communities and households across the country.  

We look forward to working with Congress throughout the appropriations process to ensure continued funding for a healthy public media system.”

About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for email updates.