APTS Commends Senate Committee Recommendations for Public Broadcasting Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. —America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) has applauded the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee for proposing level funding of $535 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for fiscal year 2027 and $60 million for public media stations’ interconnection system for fiscal year 2025.

The recommendations were much better than those issued by the House Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies in mid-July. For the second straight year, the House Committee proposed ending all public funding for the CPB.

“America’s Public Television Stations are grateful for the bipartisan support of the Senate Appropriations Committee for this continued investment in the work of public television,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “We are pleased by this recognition of the critical role our local stations play in their communities and the essential services they provide all Americans in education, public safety and civic leadership.

Butler also said that “We are thankful for the $60 million in FY 2025 for the annual station interconnection account, which is the backbone of the public broadcasting system, connecting local stations with national programming services and with each other to provide the educational programming that benefits millions of Americans of all ages.

“We await further word on funding for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America,” he added. “This program has been proven to help close the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers. We remain hopeful that Ready To Learn’s essential work will continue to be supported through full funding.”

“We are hopeful that the bipartisan, bicameral congressional support for public television will result in the final FY 2025 appropriations bills including the Senate funding levels,” Butler concluded.

Earlier in mid-July, the House Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies proposed eliminating future funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in its FY 2025 appropriations bill. The bill reported out of the committee on July 10 provided no funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), effective in FY 2027, a cut of $535 million from the current appropriation, and no funding for public media stations’ interconnection system, a cut of $60 million for FY 2025, the APTS reported.

The bill did include level funding of $31 million in FY 2025 for Ready To Learn, a competitive grant program at the Department of Education that supports the creation and distribution of educational media content to millions of children across America.

“America’s Public Television Stations are deeply disappointed that the House Appropriations Committee has voted to discontinue federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public media stations’ interconnection system in the FY 2025 appropriations bill,” said Butler said in a July 10 statement on the House funding.

In the earlier statement Butler said, however, that “notwithstanding today’s committee action, we remain hopeful that the strong bipartisan support for public media, both in Congress and among the American people, will ultimately result in full funding for CPB, interconnection and system infrastructure, and Ready To Learn as the appropriations process moves forward. At $1.60 per person, funding for public broadcasting remains the best bargain in the federal budget and the very definition of fiscal responsibility.”