Gingrich Vows $2,000 for Barney, Big Bird Network

Incoming House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who wants to eliminate government funding for public television, promised Monday to personally contribute $2,000 a year to support a privately funded network to house Big Bird and Barney.

“I’m going to pledge that every year for the next five years I will give at least $2,000 . . . to a privately funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” Gingrich said in an interview with C-SPAN, the cable network that covers Congress.

“Big Bird makes money. Barney makes money. These are profit-making centers, they would survive fine . . . . I understand why the elite wants the money (for public TV), but I think they ought to be honest. These are a bunch of rich, upper-class people who want their toy to play with,” Gingrich said.

Big Bird is a character on “Sesame Street,” a popular children’s show on public television, and Barney is a purple dinosaur with his own show on public TV.

Gingrich, who is slated to be elected House Speaker on Wednesday, repeated attacks on the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which have come under fire for funding what some lawmakers deem obscene or left-wing works.

He also said taxpayers should not continue to foot the bill for presidential libraries, but he called for additional funding for the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress.

Gingrich said he would like to find a way to send block grants to states and localities to support the arts.

The former history professor denied news reports that Republicans plan to eliminate the House historian’s office, which he helped create, even though the existing staff had been fired.

Gingrich said the staff will be replaced and that the office will be more active.

Gingrich also denied he had taken advantage of his new position in the House when he agreed last month to a $4.5 million advance for writing two books, saying he had not sought out publishers, they had come to him.

After public outcry, Gingrich agreed to take only a $1 advance and accept royalties on books sold, admitting he could still make millions if the books sell well.

“If we do very, very well, we could be easily in that range or above because it’s a two-book deal,” he said.