The House plans to get started on President Donald Trump’s request for rescissions on Tuesday, June 10. But some lawmakers – on both sides of the aisle – have raised concerns about what taking back around $9.4 billion in funding cut by DOGE would do to public broadcasting. How would rural Americans receive their educational programming, their news, or even their emergency alerts without stations funded by federal dollars?
Republicans, generally speaking, have been looking forward to trimming the fat a bit from public spending. But every lawmaker has his or her own areas of government funding they’d prefer not to cut. Can this presidential request pass muster? And if it does, what happens to public broadcasting?
Support for Public Broadcasting Is Brought to You By...
Every year, Congress funds the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to the tune of $500 million or more, and it pays out the vast majority of that to local television and radio stations, keeping only a small portion for “system support” and “CPB administration.” In FY2025, the federal government gifted the corporation with $535 million from tax revenues. Combined with the estimated $10 million in interest generated by those funds, that brings the total 2025 budget to $545 million, of which about $364.6 million went to television stations and programs and about $121.5 million went to radio stations and programs.
But wait, there’s more. Most of the funding for these public stations aren’t congressionally appropriated, but donated by a variety of other corporations, foundations, universities, and individuals – or, to put it in a way any frequent watcher of PBS will recognize, “viewers like you.” According to PBS, only about 15% of its funding is federal money channeled through the CPB. It’s a similar story over at NPR. Only 1% or so comes directly through CPB, but almost 10% of NPR’s budget is from federal, state, and local governments indirectly.
So, can PBS, NPR, and the 1,500 or so locally owned public radio and television stations funded by CPB survive without that federal tax-dollar infusion? Probably. In fact, there’s a strong argument for such public stations being funded only by donations and local and state governments.
This Is a Test of the Emergency Alert System
We’ve all heard it – that series of odd beeps or tones emanating from our televisions or radios that, even in 2025, evokes memories of noisy dial-up modems. There is some fear among lawmakers – even some Republicans, evidently – that cutting CPB funding will leave rural Americans uninformed in times of emergencies. “You go to rural America, public television is how you get emergency broadcasting and all that kind of stuff,” worried Rep. Mike Simpson, a Republican from Idaho. But is it, really? Few parts of America – however remote – lack at least some local stations outside of PBS. In fact, it’s not terribly uncommon out in the country to get the local NBC, CBS, or Fox affiliate – as well as stations like Grit, MeTV, Comet, Laff, etc. – but not the local PBS. It just depends on the digital antenna being used by the viewers and the station’s signal strength wherever those viewers happen to be.
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is controlled by a joint effort between FEMA, the FCC, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In times of severe weather or other emergencies, alerts go out across every radio and network television station and, for that matter, even smartphones. Watching old westerns on Grit? You’ll still get a warning if severe weather is headed your way. And what about AMBER Alerts? Those are brought to you by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Justice Department.
The CPB does distribute some money for emergencies through the Next Generation Warning System grant program – but it comes out of FEMA’s budget. In the unlikely event that DOGE spending cuts to CPB bring about the end of public broadcasting, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult for FEMA to take over management of any EAS funds normally sent to other stations. Don’t worry; those annoying beeps and tones – and critical alerts that follow – aren’t likely to go anywhere.
The Question of Congress
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and many other GOP lawmakers were initially optimistic about the DOGE rescissions package. But more legislators have expressed concerns and questions over the measure, and now success seems, perhaps, a bit less certain. And one of the primary issues this bill faces is a reluctance even among Republicans to cut funding to public broadcasting. Speaker Johnson went from seemingly sure last week that it would pass quickly through the House to saying that he’s working on getting enough votes and that he hopes to call a floor vote this week.
On Monday, June 9, Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) issued a joint statement, asking the Trump administration to reconsider cutting CPB funding. “Cutting this funding will not meaningfully reduce the deficit, but it will dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans,” the statement declared. Ultimately, however, the goal is to cut spending in general to bring the US closer to a balanced budget. “Raise money,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told The Hill. “I mean, look, my bottom line is, we’re $36 trillion in debt. You tell me where we’re gonna find the cuts. Here’s $9 billion. Let’s go.”
The rescissions request still seems likely to survive the House – but it could face significant changes in the Senate, as multiple GOP senators have so far balked at cutting funding for public broadcasting and global health endeavors, like the worldwide fight against HIV and AIDS. Don’t be surprised if Congress passes some form of rescissions that look quite different from the president’s request.
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