Presidential contender Mitt Romney likes PBS but said in Iowa Wednesday that federal dollars under his administration will have to be cut even for programs he likes.
“I like PBS, we subsidize PBS. Look — I’m gonna stop that, I’m gonna say PBS is gonna have to have advertisement. We’re not gonna kill Big Bird, but Big Bird’s gonna have advertisements, all right.”
Funding for public broadcasting, including the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and NPR, has been a target of the Republican fiscal agenda. A bill passed the House in March to defund NPR with many Republicans accusing the broadcaster of a liberal bias; a separate proposal was introduced in the Senate to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes PBS and NPR.
Sesame Street, home to Big Bird, is produced by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop and airs on PBS stations.
