Obama Circumvents State Department, Supports Plan to Give BBG $10 Million
Rob Bluey /
The Broadcasting Board of Governors will receive $10 million under the compromise spending deal reached last week. President Obama effectively sided with the BBG over his own State Department in a funding dispute involving Internet circumvention work.
Obama and lawmakers agreed to language in the fiscal 2011 spending bill cutting the State Department’s share and giving the BBG a portion to “expand unrestricted access to information on the Internet.” The BBG operates five government-sponsored international broadcasting networks.
At stake was $30 million to advance Internet freedom. The BBG, which previously received $1.4 million from the State Department, was unlikely to get any funding this year without congressional intervention.