Bush Signs Bill Hiking Funding for Public TV

President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a bill that sharply increases government subsidies for public television and bans the broadcast of “indecent” programs before midnight.

Congress approved the three-year, $1.1-billion reauthorization for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting earlier this month and still must pass legislation appropriating the money.

The law signed Wednesday authorizes increasing the government’s share of the corporation’s budget from $251 million this year and $253 million in 1993 to $310 million in 1994, $375 million in 1995 and $425 million in 1996.

The White House had threatened a veto because of the spending increases, but it backed off after Republicans mustered only 22 votes in the Senate on a proposal to freeze public radio and TV subsidies.

Senate Republicans had delayed action on the bill for months, complaining that many of the programs produced by local PBS stations with government subsidies had too much of a liberal bias.

Public broadcasting also was attacked at the Republican Convention, which adopted a platform saying: “We deplore the blatant political bias of the government-sponsored radio and television networks. . . . We call for sweeping reform. . . . We look forward to the day when public broadcasting is self-sufficient.”