The List

In a Romney administration there is a list.  I'm sure there are many lists, but there is a list of programs and endowments that will be eliminated under a Romney administration.

In a interview with Fortune, Gov. Romney talked about the economy, his administration and his budget.  You may recall that last Sunday Romney emphasized that it is his budget that will be implemented not the current or past budget proposals developed in the House by Paul Ryan.

In all of Romney's budget proposals, he has slated for budget elimination the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and NPR.  While Romney says he likes some of this things on PBS, it is time for it to "stand" on its own.  In an earlier interview, Romney said that PBS would carry ads in his administration.

Romney will need Congress to changes laws and rules governing broadcast stations to accomplish this.  Current law and FCC rules prohibit non-profit stations from carrying advertising.

This is not the first time public media has been threatened to have its federal funding cut.  When Republicans took over the House in the mid 90's, the budget called for an elimination of funding for public broadcasting.  Eventually, funding was restored at slightly lower levels.

In recent months a House committee has put together a plan to reduce funding for CPB with total elimination in the 2015 fiscal year.  That proposal has not come to the floor and is dead in the democrat controlled Senate.

The fate of federal funding will, in large part, be determined by the presidential and congressional elections in November.  A sweep in both houses and the White House may finally see the end of CPB funding.

Hopefully there may be some compromise.  While ending funding for NPR and PBS could gain some traction, a larger part of federal funding goes to local stations as a Community Service Grants.  For many smaller stations this grant is their life's blood.

A CPB study this summer showed that 130 stations could go off the air if federal funding is completely cut.  Many of these stations are in rural areas and some are the only radio or television provider for a community.

The lost of those stations could result in a loss of emergency information getting to local communities.

In this economy solutions are difficult.  Spending is crazy.  Everyone has their favorite program than is on the "endangered" list.

Personally, I like the proposal that prevents local stations receiving a CSG are prohibited from using that money to pay dues to PBS or NPR.  If those two entities want to stay alive, they should find funding that does not include taking money from local stations.  Money that is given to stations to fund local initiatives, programs and personnel.

That kind of proposal would be appropriate.