The Fiscal Year 2006 budget for Milwaukee Public Television, beginning July 1, 2005, anticipates a $1.6 million contribution from the federal government – 10.8 percent of our stations’ income.

The federal contribution to MPTV comes from several sources within the national budget, but the most significant part of the $1.6 million, by far, is from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB is the private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress to disburse federal grants to the local stations, as well as fund research, technology, and programming for public TV and radio stations.

We had confidence in the $1.6 million figure because CPB is “forward funded” two years by Congress in order to allow the stations to do better long range planning; in other words, Congress approved its FY 2006 grant to CPB – a total of $400 million – in 2004.

In early June, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee voted to rescind $100 million of this $400 million to CPB. That could have had a devastating effect on local stations – the elimination of local productions, personnel, outreach to schools, and popular national programs.

The cuts to public broadcasting became the subject of a national debate, and three members of the House, David Obey (D-Wisconsin), Nita Lowey (D-New York), and Jim Leach (R-Iowa), spearheaded an effort to restore the $100 million that the Committee had cut.

On June 23, the Obey-Lowey-Leach Amendment was introduced and debated on the House floor, and we were delighted that it passed by an overwhelming margin, 284-140: 196 Democrats, 87 Republicans, and 1 Independent voted “yes.” The vote was a bipartisan validation of the work we and other public television and radio stations have been doing to serve the public for decades.

We had asked our viewers, on the air and on this website, to contact their representatives about the cuts, and I know many of you did, because the Congressional offices told me they heard from our viewers in force! I want to thank all of you who made a call, or e-mailed, or wrote to your member of Congress. It made a difference!
In our southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois broadcasting area, four of our six members of Congress supported the amendment: Gwen Moore (D-4th Dist.) and Thomas Petri (R-6th Dist.) from Wisconsin, and Melissa Bean (D-8th Dist.) and Mark Kirk (R-10th Dist.) from Illinois.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin Reps. Paul Ryan (R-1st Dist.) and James Sensenbrenner (R-5th Dist.) voted against the amendment.

So where do we go from here?

In this particular vote, the House did not consider at all other sources of federal funding that were included in this past year's national funding for public broadcasting and are still needed if we are to adequately serve our viewers: $23 million for Ready To Learn children’s programs and outreach; a $39 million CPB fund for stations’ conversion to digital broadcasting; $40 million for the reconstruction of the national PBS satellite system; and $22 million for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program which funds purchases of equipment at local stations.

The focus now shifts to the U.S. Senate where we hope restoration of some or all of the funds mentioned in the previous paragraph will be considered. Senate appropriators will consider these matters in mid-July. Then, probably in September, the House and Senate will confer on their bills and reach compromise. We in public broadcasting are optimistic that support in the Senate will be even stronger than it has been in the House, and you can be sure that we will continue to keep our Senators informed about MPTV’s service to our area.

Again, let me thank you for all your calls to Congress and for your words of support over the past couple of weeks. I believe strongly that public broadcasting continues to be highly valued by our viewers, and that it serves our citizens in ways that neither commercial stations nor cable networks choose to or can.

And please, if you see Gwen Moore, David Obey, Tom Petri, Melissa Bean, or Mark Kirk back in your district, be sure to thank them for their support for public broadcasting!