Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) wrote President TrumpThursday to register their opposition to defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The President's 2018 budget, a blueprint of which was released Thursday, would do just that.
“Any funding cuts to the CPB could create a content deficit where the public no longer has access to enriching educational, civic, and entertainment shows for all Americans, regardless of ethnic, racial or socio-economic background,” they wrote. “With its near universal footprint, CPB provides virtually all Americans with access to this educational content and top-caliber local, regional, and national news. Approximately 99% of all Americans can enjoy this public media, regardless of how much money they earn or where they live.”
Related: CPB's Harrison: Cuts Would Destroy Public Media's Role
They made a point of supporting independent sources of news. The President has repeatedly accused news outlets of being in service of their own political agendas or of conspiring with Democrats. They pledged to oppose any attempt to decrease funding, much less eliminate it.
Congress will have the final say on the budget, since they hold the appropriations purse strings. Republicans have periodically threatened to cut off funding, but so far that has not happened in either Republican or Democratically controlled Congresses.
Markey in particular has been a long and strong backer of noncommercial TV and radio. Back in June 2005, Markey joined Big Bird and others on the marbled steps of the Cannon House Office Building (he was a House member at the time) for a rally when noncom budgets were threatened.
