Save Sesame Street

In an article that appeared in the Washington Post on Friday, we learned that a House subcommittee has voted to make the largest reduction EVER to federal support for public broadcasting, eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite shows like "Sesame Street" and eliminating ALL federal money for the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting), which accounts for 15 percent of the public broadcasting industry's total revenue.

Rep. Ralph Regula, an Ohio republican and the subcommittee's chairman, said the cuts had nothing to do with dissatisfaction over public radio or TV programs (though many have suggested it's part of a Republican attack on programs they perceive as having a "liberal bias.").

While some of the funding can be recovered through other sources, the loss of $23.4 million in federal funds for PBS's "Ready to Learn" programs could mean they go off the air altogether. The Ready to Learn programs include "Sesame Street," "Dragontales," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," and "Arthur." The cuts are also likely to put small public radio stations with shoestring budgets completely out of business.

As a kid who grew up learning Spanish from Maria and Luis, who learned math from "The Count," and who loved to sing "I'm a dog, I'm a workin' dog, I'm a hard workin' dog," I have trouble imagining the future for my own children without Sesame Street.

MoveOn has a petition on its Web site at http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=1
It would also be wise to contact your legislators and tell them you want to protect PBS and NPR and all their affiliates -- the best quality programming we have left.