Mr. Trump wants to rid federal funding for the public media and arts.
President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would lacerate federal funding for public media and arts. The 2019 budget would greatly cut the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s budget to a measly $15 million.
This is down from $495 million.
CPB is a private, non-prit that was initiated by Congress back in 1967 in order to support public TV and radio stations like PBS and NPR.
Trump’s budget logic is that the organizations that benefitted from the CPB’s money could “make up the shortfall by increasing revenues from corporate sponsors, foundations and members.”
Back in May 2018, Congress reimposed the funding to CPB.
These abrasions are not faring well with those affected.
Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO, stated, “The elimination federal funding to CPB would at first devastate, and then ultimately destroy public media’s ability to provide early childhood content, life-saving emergency alerts, and public affairs programs.”
Those in the path the budget cuts continue to oppose them. Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, stated that they and their 350 member stations will once again, “remind leaders in Washington the significant benefits the public receives in return for federal funding, a modest investment about $1.35 per citizen, per year.”
CPB and public arts wouldn’t be the only things being axed in the budget.
The National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities will have their budgets axed from $150 million to $29 million (NEA) and $42 million (NEH). These cuts are in hopes the agencies to “begin shutting down.”
The NEA’s chairman, Jane Chu, states the following about President Trump’s proposed cuts to the NEA:
The budget proposal would also make substantial cuts to the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, and many other domestic agencies. The National Science Foundation’s budget in 2016 was about $7.5 billion. The NSF is in charge supporting fundamental research and education in non-medical fields engineering and science.
The budget claims that it “also makes important investments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in K-12 schools.”
Considerable amounts would be delegated to defense spending.
Over the course ten years, the proposed budget would drastically sever Medicare by half a trillion dollars. It would add 13-percent to defense spending. Last but not least, it would add $18 billion for 65 miles a border wall.
This must still go through Congress. It’s likely that there will be significant renegotiations on a plethora the proposed cuts. You can read the full, 160-page proposal here.
