All Democrats in the Senate voted against the measure, including Colorado's two senators, John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennett, and were joined by Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. But that wasn't enough, and the bill passed, 51-58.
Republican Senator and former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had voted not to advance the bill, voted in favor of the package of cuts, which will go on to strip $7.9 billion from foreign assistance programs, as well. Amendments intended to help curb the cuts on rural and tribal stations failed.
“During floods and wildfires, radio is often the only source of information for rural and tribal communities,” Bennet says in a statement. “We’ve got to continue to speak up, and we’ve got to fight these shortsighted, partisan cuts every step of the way.”
In the public debate leading up to the cuts, even Sesame Street was wrapped up in the political debate/culture war, largely stirred by right-wing politicians and media pundits.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which delivers federal money to National Public Radio (NPR), the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and member stations across the country, will lose $1.2 billion in funding already allocated for the next two years. However, the fallout will largely be felt by the individual member stations rather than the national parent organizations.
Many smaller local stations receive up to 50 percent of their funding from the CPB.
Hitting Colorado Media
Rocky Mountain PBS could lose $3 million annually, while Colorado Public Radio reports that it receives about six percent of its funding from CBP, or about $1.5 million. Radio station KRCC in Colorado Springs receives about 10 percent of its budget, or $168,000 annually, from federal funding. But other rural communities in the state are facing harsher realities, looking at losses of between 20 and 50 percent of their funding.Rocky Mountain PBS filed amicus briefs earlier this month in a lawsuit brought by Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio, and KSUT tribal radio against the Trump Administration. The lawsuit is proceeding despite the Senate's approval of the rescission bill.
The House of Representatives is taking up the Senate's version of the bill today, July 17, as the rescission measure must be passed by midnight on Friday, July 18, due to a process outlined in the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
It is expected to pass, and will likely to squeak through, just like the Senate version.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
