House votes to restore funds for public broadcasting

Benjamin Grove

Friday, June 24, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Somewhere Clifford the Big Red Dog is wagging his tail. The House on Thursday restored a $100 million proposed budget cut for public broadcasting.

Nevada public broadcasters rejoiced, but also said the House has proposed other cuts they hope the Senate will restore.

An amendment to restore the $100 million was approved on a 284-140 vote. Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Jon Porter, R-Nev., voted for the amendment. The amendment was part of a $142 billion spending bill for health, education and labor programs next year.

The vote followed a flurry of last-minute campaigning by many local affiliates, urging viewers and listeners to contact their lawmakers to express support for public broadcasting. The five Nevada congressional offices received hundreds of calls and e-mails.

The proposed cut would have slashed funding by 25 percent for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money to PBS, National Public Radio and hundreds of local public radio and television affiliates.

Nevada stations stood to lose about $1.2 million, according to the CPB estimates. That included $32,000 for UNLV's KUNV-FM radio station, and about $83,000 for KCEP 88.1 FM in Las Vegas, an urban music public station.

The proposed cut also would have slashed about $494,000 from Las Vegas' KLVX Channel 10 budget, according to CPB. The House restored about $250,000 for operating and programming expenses for KLVX. The cut would have reduced children's programming and trimmed budgets for KLVX non-television programs with the Clark County School District, KLVX general manager Tom Axtell said.

"In this case, the legislators made a real effort to reflect the values and the desires of their constituents," Axtell said.