Bye Bye PBS

From Eric Dondero:

Perhaps the Budget Commission isn't that useless after all. Among the proposed budget cuts, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles call for completely aboloshing the taxpayer subsidy to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

From the Daily Caller:

Also included in the report is a recommendation to eliminate government funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, whose “primary job is to fund [National Public Radio] and its member stations … and PBS and its member stations.”

Coming on the heels of the recent uproar over NPR’s firing of Juan Williams for comments they deemed insensitive, and the threats by many Republicans to defund the station, this proposed cut is also significant. Though NPR does not depend in any way solely on CPB for funding, an elimination of CPB funding would nonetheless hurt NPR.

CPB released a statement that said they “strongly disagree” with the proposal, and that “this important investment … should be supported for the benefit, education and enrichment of all Americans.”

“The federal investment represents an average of 15 percent of funding for the more than 1,100 public radio and television stations around the country, and stations use this investment to raise funds from the communities they serve. In some cases, especially in rural and low-income areas, public broadcasting serves as a lifeline of content, information and services to the community,” the CPB statement read.

Libertarians will also cheer the Commission's proposal to drastically scale back contributions to the United Nations.