Pastore served as the chairman of United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. He is probably best remembered for taking part in a 1969 hearing involving a $20 million grant for the funding of PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting proposed by former President Lyndon Johnson. President Richard Nixon wanted to cut the proposed funding to $10 million due to the demands of the Vietnam War, and Fred Rogers, host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", appeared before the committee to argue for the full $20 million. In about six minutes of testimony, Rogers spoke of the need for social and emotional education that public television provided. Pastore was not familiar with Rogers' work, and was sometimes described as gruff and impatient, but he told Rogers that the testimony had given him goose bumps, and after Rogers recited the lyrics to "What Do You Do with the Mad that You Feel?", one of the songs from his show, Pastore declared: "I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the $20 million." The following year's appropriation increased PBS funding from $9 million to $22 million.