'Taxpayers Across This Country Should Not Be Funding That Nonsense': Schmitt Decries PBS Subsidies

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During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) spoke about public educational programming for children.

Transcript

00:00Mr. President, my motion would ensure that this Republican bill will not cut access to

00:15children's educational programming through public television stations.

00:21From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every single day, the public television system is the children's

00:28television network for free in our country. Hour after hour, public television delivers

00:34free, entertaining, educational programming for all children, all ages, black, white, Latino,

00:40Asian, for free, regardless of race, regardless of income. And it's Arthur, Molly of Denali,

00:48The Wild Kratts, Lyla in the Loop, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, on all day long. And this Republican

00:54bill cuts will cause stations that deliver this essential children's programming to

00:59go dark. These cuts will be especially devastating to millions of children and families in rural

01:05and underserved and low-income communities that don't have access to high-speed networks.

01:10Defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a betrayal of all those kids. A marquee amendment

01:17says, and I ask for an eye, keep the children's television network on PBS on all day, all across

01:25our country, for free, for every child that has educated generations of children in our country.

01:33Keep the children's television network on the air. Vote aye for the marquee amendment.

01:40Senator from Missouri.

01:42Thank you, Mr. President. I stand in opposition to the amendment from Senator Markey, saying that

01:47defunding the CPB will somehow prevent Americans from receiving children's educational programming

01:53is patently false. American taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize programming that

01:57glorifies radical gender ideology in schools or encourages children to defund the police.

02:05As just one example, PBS programming has been used to help fund a children's learning segment

02:10promoting the book, The Hips on the Drag Queen Goes Swish, Swish, Swish.

02:16This is not any sane person's definition of an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. Eliminating

02:22this funding doesn't ban public stations from airing kids programming. It just ends the

02:27federal subsidy. Taxpayers across this country should not be funding that nonsense. This amendment

02:33isn't about protecting children's education. It's about protecting a political agenda with

02:38taxpayer dollars. I urge my colleagues to vote no.

02:41The question is on the motion. Is there a sufficient second? Appears to be. Clerk will call the roll.

02:52Miss Oliver Brooks. Miss Baldwin.ts.iós.

02:53Miss Oliver Brooks. Miss Baldwin.

02:54Miss Oliver Brooks. Miss Oliver Brooks. Miss Oliver Brooks갔. Miss Oliver Brooks camping in

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