Today, the House of Representatives narrowly voted to rescind $1.1 billion in funds previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The vote was 214 to 212 in favor.
The rescission proposal, submitted last week by the President, seeks to remove more than $700 million in funds dedicated to supporting independent local public media organizations in communities across all 50 states and territories. The proposal now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Americans who rely on local, independent stations serving communities across America, especially in rural and underserved regions, will suffer the immediate consequences of this vote. If rescission passes and local stations go dark, millions of Americans will no longer have access to locally owned, independent, nonprofit media and will bear the risk of living in a news desert, missing their emergency alerts, and hearing silence where classical, jazz and local artists currently play.
We urge the Senate to preserve the bipartisan support that has uplifted public broadcasting's essential services in this country for the last 50 years, underscored press freedoms within every station and with each producer, and ensured the protection of the unique, universal, and lifesaving value of the public media system. We urge the Senate to affirm the very real support for public media across the nation, and to reject rescission, maintaining critical services for Americans across the nation.
The outcome today was extraordinarily close. We are especially grateful for the bipartisan leadership of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), and all lawmakers who championed the effort in the House to safeguard this funding. In the spirit of their bipartisan support, we will continue to advocate for public media's essential service to all Americans across our nation.
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