FOXNews.com reports:
Funding for clinical cancer trials and other life-saving research under the National Institutes of Health was cut off in response to the government slimdown, but it looks like the cookie monster will still be knee-deep in chocolate chips (or is it carrots now?)
According to the Daily Treasury Statement and first reported by CNS News, the administration dished out $445 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) on the first day of the slimdown, which means funds for the likes of PBS Newshour, NPR and “Sesame Street” are being spent before cancer research.
According to CPB, in 2009 11.3% of the aggregate revenues of all public radio broadcasting stations were funded from federal sources, principally through CPB.
So if the government did not fund NPR, it would still have 88+% of its revenue. Maybe a few highly paid news reporters (Moyers, Ofili, et al) could take a cut or a furlough for a short while? Fat chance.
Couple of questions. What exactly does PBS do to educate. It has a few programs that will let you spend a half hour to learn maybe one word. It is definitely not time well spent, and is more like High brow entertainment for the kids, so the parents feel good about TC. Besides the kids are suppose to be learning at school. Not having the Teacher turn on the Baby sitter, so the 5th graders can watch Sesame Street all day long.
Second what makes you think PBS doesn’t have reserve funds? Being non-profit means you don’t pay taxes. It doesn’t mean you can’t have cash on hand for investment, growth, emergencies, etc.
I doubt the 400 million would affect anything in the short term.
OK, devil’s advocate here. Health spending and research is still supported by schools, corporations, and patrons throughout the country and the planet. A mild interruption of one major source of funding isn’t going to do any long term damage.
On the other hand, education (of which PBS is a part), while it does have patronage, does not have the massive corporate support or profit incentive that medicine enjoys.Furthermore, due to being a non-profit, it does not have any reserves to draw upon. A month without their budgeted federal funds could be disasterous.