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Sen. McCain's statement introducing CPB reauthorization bill, 2004
Statement of Sen. John McCain, chairman of Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, on introduction of the Public Broadcasting Reauthorization Act of 2004, on July 13, 2004. Text of bill, S. 2645.
MR. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce The Public Broadcasting Reauthorization Act of 2004. This legislation is designed to reauthorize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB or "the Corporation") through 2011 to carry forth its mission to support the nation's public broadcasting system. This private, non-profit corporation has not been reauthorized since 1996.
In 1967, Congress created the Corporation, declaring, "It is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational and cultural purposes." Today, the primary function of the CPB is to receive and distribute governmental funds to stations, develop national programming, and maintain universal access to public broadcasting's educational programs and services through 356 public television stations and almost 800 public radio stations.
In addition to authorizing the Corporation, the bill would explicitly provide public broadcast stations the ability to use CPB funds to produce local programming. An April 2004 General Accounting Office (GAO) report noted that 79 percent of the public television stations surveyed found that the amount of local programming they currently produce is not sufficient to meet local community needs. Eighty-five percent of the stations surveyed stated that they do not have adequate funds for local programming or that they would produce more local programming if they could obtain additional sources of funding. The bill would provide the Corporation the explicit authority to award grants for the production and acquisition of local programming and allow stations to use CPB funds supporting the digital transition to produce local digital
Furthermore, the bill would expand the definition of public telecommunications services to capture the services public broadcasters are now providing through their web sites and through digital multicasting. The bill would also allow CPB to recoup some federal funds provided to a public broadcast station if the broadcaster sells the station to an entity that does not offer public broadcasting services.
Reauthorization would allow the CPB to continue carrying out its many responsibilities.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to expeditiously move this measure through the legislative process.
Today the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on public broadcasting. Mr. Ken Burns, a filmmaker, spoke eloquently at the hearing on the benefits public broadcasting provides to local communities. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Burns' testimony and the bill be printed in the Record immediately following my remarks.
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July 13, 2004
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