President Biden’s latest budget recommends $595 million in advance appropriations for public media in fiscal year 2027, which would provide record funding if approved. CPB’s base appropriation is funded two years in advance of the annual federal budget process.
CPB’s base appropriation for fiscal year 2025 is $535 million. After a House subcommittee proposed zeroing out public media funding in 2026, the Senate in July recommended level advance funding. The final amount is yet to be approved ahead of a March 22 deadline to fully fund all federal agencies or face a government shutdown.
Biden’s budget also includes level funding at $60 million for the interconnection system and infrastructure in FY25 and $31 million in level funding in FY25 for the Ready To Learn Department of Education program.
“We are very appreciative of the President’s budget request, which recommends increased funding for CPB,” said CPB President Pat Harrison in a news release. “CPB’s role is to steward these taxpayer monies for public media in ways that serve every American. This means that whether you live in urban or rural areas of our country you have access to free high-quality content that educates, informs, and inspires.”
Separately, CPB is requesting that Congress provide $56 million for the Next Generation Warning System at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The FEMA funding was first approved in FY22 at $40 million and increased to $56 million in FY23.
“We are grateful for the President’s support for public media and this promising beginning to the FY 2025 funding process,” said outgoing APTS President Patrick Butler in a news release. We look forward to working with the bipartisan public media supporters in Congress to ensure that this federal funding, so necessary to sustaining public media’s essential local public service missions, is approved as the appropriations process moves forward.”