Congress Secures $445M For CPB

A government-wide spending bill containing more than $1 trillion in appropriations, including $445 million for CPB through fiscal year 2016, passed the Senate Thursday by a wide margin on its way to President Obama’s desk, according to current.org.

The Senate voted 72-26 for the measure after it cleared the House the previous day. Republicans cast all of the dissenting votes.

In addition to CPB funding, the bill allocates $2 million for rural noncom stations that qualify for CPB’s Community Service Grants.

Federal aid for CPB has remained relatively stable over the past three years, though appropriations took a hit with the automatic spending cuts that took effect in March 2013. Efforts by House Republicans in 2011 and 2012 to prohibit stations from spending CPB money on NPR programming failed to gain traction; the 2011 attempt did not pass the Senate, and the 2012 effort flopped in favor of a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government running.

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