The Senate voted to approve a $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television.

The Senate voted to approve a $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television.
#NativeAmerican radio stations at risk as #USCongress looks to cut $1B in public broadcasting funding
By MARGERY A. BECK
Updated 12:06 AM EDT, July 16, 2025
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — "Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders.
"The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on whether to approve the Department of Government Efficiency’s plan to rescind previously approved public broadcasting funding for 2026 and 2027. Fear is growing that most of the 59 tribal radio stations that receive the funding will go dark, depriving isolated populations of news, local events and critical weather alerts. The House already approved the cuts last month.
" 'For Indian Country in general, 80% of the communities are rural, and their only access to national news, native story sharing, community news, whatever it is, is through PBS stations or public radio,' said Francene Blythe-Lewis, CEO of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Native American video programming producer Vision Maker Media. 'If the claw back happens, I would say a good 90% of those stations will cease to exist.'
"Native American communities rely on local radio stations
"Local radio plays an outsized role in the lives of many who live in Indigenous communities, where cable television and broadband internet access are spotty, at best, and nonexistent for many. That leaves over-the-air TV stations — usually a PBS station — and more often local radio to provide local news, community event details and music by Indigenous artists. Sometimes the news is delivered in Indigenous languages.
" 'It means we’re not going to hear our language on the radio,' Blythe-Lewis said.
"Flagstaff, Arizona-based #NativePublic #Media, which supports the network of 59 radio stations and three television stations serving tribal nations across the country, said about three dozen of those radio stations that rely heavily on Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding will be the first to go dark if funding is cut for the coming fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
"Loris Taylor, CEO of Native Public Media, said in an op-ed that the tribal stations reach more than 1.5 million people and 'may be the only source of locally relevant news, emergency alerts, public safety announcements, language preservation, health information and election coverage.'
Republicans face pressure to pass the cuts
"GOP senators are under pressure from President Donald Trump, who promised last week on his Truth Social platform that any Republican who votes against the cuts 'will not have my support or Endorsement.' "
"Many Republicans say the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, recently defended the cuts as necessary to hack away at the nearly $37 trillion national debt, adding, 'It is critical in restoring trust in government.'
"But some Republicans have pushed back, such as Maine Sen. #SusanCollins, who questioned the proposed cuts last month during a Senate committee hearing. She said that while some of the federal money is assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System, most of it goes to locally owned public radio and television stations."
#NativeAmericanRadio #PublicRadio #CulturalGenocide #USSenate #BudgetCuts
#CPB #CPBFunding #PublicRadio #CommunityRadio #TrumpSucks #USPol #Censorship #Fascism #Authoritarianism
'If I wasn't here, people could die': Trump public media cuts could hit rural America
Thomas Copeland, BBC World Service
July 15, 2025
"A gale-force storm hit north-eastern #Alaska last winter. Residents of #Kotzebue, a town of about 3,000, are used to polar conditions, so Desiree Hagan still had to get to work.
" 'The snow was so intense you could not see in front of you,' Ms Hagan remembers. 'I was walking backwards to work.'
"Ms Hagan is a reporter at a public radio station, #KOTZ, which airs across Kotzebue and its 12 surrounding villages.
She also happens to be the only US journalist stationed inside the Arctic Circle, so as the storm intensified, she had to get on the air.
" 'It's go time, I have to report on this,' recalls Ms Hagan. 'We have to make sure we know where people can go. Oh, the electric is out. Okay, now the airport is flooded.'
" 'Winter is not a joke here, it is life and death,' she tells the BBC. 'As a reporter I try not to make emotional statements like, if I wasn't here, people could die, but that is a reality.'
"On the other side of the country in #WashingtonDC, however, a historic vote could bring federal support for KOTZ to an end.
"The Senate must decide by the end of the week whether to claw back $1.1bn (£800m) from the #CorporationForPublicBroadcasting, the body that distributes federal funding to public radio and television stations.
"While the #PublicMedia cuts are part of a broad spending package, which includes requests to rescind $8.3bn from the United States Agency for International Development and other foreign aid programmes, they are especially dear to President Donald Trump, who frequently accuses media of bias.
"The president has now threatened to pull his support from any Republican senator who does not support the cuts.
" 'It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,' Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday night.
"Executives at National Public Radio (#NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (#PBS) reject accusations of bias and say they abide by all journalistic standards.
"Republican voters, however, are about three times less likely than Democrats to consume or trust news coverage from either outlet, according to the Pew Research Center.
"While the cuts will affect national broadcasters like NPR and PBS, more than 70% of federal funding goes to local media stations and about 45% of the stations that received funding in 2023 are in rural areas.
"For half of those rural stations, federal grants made up a quarter or more of their revenue. At KOTZ in Kotzebue, public funding constitutes 41% of its income.
" 'By no means is it assured of being passed in the Senate, where many of the Republican senators represent rural states that really do benefit from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,' Democratic congressman Dan Goldman, co-chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, told the BBC World Service's Weekend programme.
"Republican Senator #LisaMurkowski of Alaska has said she opposes the cuts to public media stations, warning that "what may seem like a frivolous expense to some has proven to be an invaluable resource that saves lives in Alaska".
'Almost to a number, they're saying that they will go under if public broadcasting funds are no longer available to them,' Murkowski told a Senate hearing last month. "
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20w51rkw4no?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/ltoA4
The Senate is moving to vote this week on the Trump administration's request to claw back federal funding for public media and foreign assistance programs.
https://www.europesays.com/2232368/ Senate Confirmation Hearing for Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump’s Choice for Amb. to Greece (VID) #greece #KimberlyGuilfoyle #UsSenate #Ελλάδα #νεα
No one wanted Trump’s devastating budget bill. Of course it passed | Moira Donegan https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/04/trump-devastating-budget-bill #HouseofRepresentatives #UShealthcare #DonaldTrump #Republicans #USCongress #UStaxation #USpolitics #USSenate #USnews
️
Did Daddy violate the law when halting congressionally approved Defense Aide? Trump's pause on Russia sanctions under investigation by Senate Democrats (more) https://kyivindependent.com/trumps-pause-on-russia-sanctions-under-investigation-by-senate-democrats-06-2025/ #Ukraine #Mastodon #USSenate #USCongress #Brussels #NukesForUkraine #Germany #France #Italy #OSCE #PACE #CoE #SouthKorea #Press #News #Taiwan #Media #Japan #USA #US #UK #EU #NATO #UnitedStates #UnitedKingdom
#EuropeanUnion #russiaUkraineWar
#11yrInvasionofUkraine
#RussiaIsATerroristState #TrumpIsARussianAsset
Emil Bove’s confirmation hearing was a travesty | Sidney Blumenthal https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/03/emil-bove-trump-nominee-confirmation-hearing #Trumpadministration #USCapitolattack #DonaldTrump #USpolitics #USSenate #PamBondi #Law(US) #USnews
https://www.europesays.com/2212913/ EU-China summits begin, Trump bill may affect some tax credits: SCMP daily highlights #Beijing #China #DalaiLama #Economy #EconomyOfEU #EconomyOfTheEU #EUEconomy #EUChinaReset #Europe #GlobalSouth #scmp #Taiwan #TrumpBill #US #UsSenate #washington #Xi
Ultimately I feel like I could search high and low for hours without coming up with a worse use of my time than blow-by-blow coverage of the fascist GOP's attempts to pass a nightmare, class war theft and murder budget; while the GOP has experienced some setbacks, it seems extremely likely that Senate Republicans are going to successfully vote to negligently murder labor class Americans to enrich the wealthiest people and companies in our society, at some point very soon. We'll probably talk more about which horrifying parts of the absurdly-named "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" survived this process soon enough, but I think it's safe to say the final version of the bill the Senate sends back to the GOP-controlled House is still going to be a dystopian neofeudalist nightmare that will invariably rack up a huge body count so long as fascists (of various types) control the US government.
In the meantime, I'd like to offer up a hearty "fuck you" and "thanks for nothing, you absolute maggot" to Martin Heinrich, the Democratic Senator for New Mexico, and the lone non-Republican sponsor of the the ORPHAN Cures Act - a provision included in the GOP's class war reconciliation budget that blocks Medicaid from negotiating prices for any drugs that treat more than one rare disease.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/big-pharma-senate-budget-bill
'Heinrich Should Be Ashamed': Lone Senate Dem Helps GOP Deliver Big Pharma Win
"Among the bill's leading supporters is Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), whose spokesperson announced the parliamentarian's decision to allow the measure in the reconciliation package after previously advising that it be excluded. Heinrich is listed as the legislation's only co-sponsor in the Senate, alongside lead sponsor Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).
"Sen. Heinrich should be ashamed of prioritizing drug corporation profits over lower medicine prices for seniors and people with disabilities," Steve Knievel, access to medicines advocate at Public Citizen, said in a statement Monday. "Patients and consumers breathed a sigh of relief when the Senate parliamentarian stripped the proposal from Republicans' Big Ugly Betrayal, so it comes as a gut punch to hear that Sen. Heinrich welcomed the reversal and continued to champion a proposal that will transfer billions from taxpayers to Big Pharma."
"People across the country are demanding lower drug prices and for Medicare drug price negotiations to be expanded, not restricted," Knievel added. "Sen. Heinrich should apologize to his constituents and start listening to them instead of drug corporation lobbyists."
Look, before any of my libbed-up readers start screaming at me about blaming Democrats for a Republican budget reconciliation bill the GOP technically has the power to force into law, please understand that Heinrich is by no means the only villain in this story; between fifty-three Senate Republicans and nonsensical ruling by the chamber's parliamentarian, this tragedy has plenty of authors. The reality however is that this is a Big Parma price support measure that is unquestionably bad for Americans and public healthcare programs that will have to pay more for vital medicines the government absolutely should be negotiating prices on. How big of a giveaway is it? Well, the Congressional Budget Office says passing this provision will cost Americans roughly $5 trillion (with a t) over the next decade. All of which is of course money that could be spent on providing better healthcare for more people otherwise. This is literally stealing healthcare funding from the American people under the guise of supporting "innovation" and any politician who supports it is absolutely helping some of the most evil corporations in our society rob you fucking blind. The fact that Heinrich co-sponsored this bullshit is really just the neoliberal corruption cherry on top of the fascist corpo-humping shitcake here.
The US senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI regulation ban from the budget bill.
The provision that passed the house would have threatened all states who pass AI Regulation with a withdrawal of infrastructure funding.
https://www.europesays.com/2207411/ Musk rips Trump big beautiful tax bill, vows to defeat GOP backers #BreakingNews:Politics #BusinessNews #congress #DonaldJTrump #DonaldTrump #elections #ElonMusk #GovernmentBudgetDeficits #Legislation #Musk #NationalBudgets #Politics #SocialMedia #TeslaInc #U.S.RepublicanParty #UnitedStatesHouseOfRepresentatives #UsSenate
If You Have Time to Read this, You Have TIME TO CALL 202-224-3121 and USE YOUR VOICE to DEMAND that BOTH of your Senators VOTE NO on the MAGA MURDER bill
REMINDERS:
In most cases, you can leave messages for elected officials 24/7.
Calls are tallied by issue. So every call matters!
The GOP budget will give ICE more money for detention than it gives the entire U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
According to immigration scholar Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the Budget-Busting Batshit Billionaire's bill passed by the GOP Senate after midnight Friday provides an additional $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrants, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion.
It adds $14.4 billion for expulsion and removal on top of the current annual budget of $750 million.
It also adds $8 billion for new ICE hires and retention.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-28-2025
#ICE #BBBBill #USSenate #USPolitics
https://www.europesays.com/2203878/ US President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ takes another hurdle in tight Senate vote #DonaldTrump #Legislation #POTUS #PresidentDonaldTrump #PresidentOfTheUnitedStates #PresidentTrump #Tax #trump #UsSenate #vote
Lisa Murkowski’s new book details centrist senator’s clash with Trump, dismay at supreme court https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/29/lisa-murkowskis-book-trump-supreme-court #Trumpadministration #DonaldTrump #USpolitics #USCongress #USSenate #Alaska #USnews #Books
https://www.europesays.com/us/23317/ Mike Lee Tries to Sneak Public Land Sale Back Into ‘Big, Ugly Bill’ Ahead of Senate Vote #Housing #JaneFonda #MarkKelly #MartinHeinrich #MikeLee #News #PublicLands #RonWyden #SenateParliamentarian #SierraClub #UnitedStates #UnitedStates #US #UsSenate
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, facing a challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, rebuked the notion that he would drop out of the 2026 Republican primary.
https://www.europesays.com/2197955/ Fed Chair sees crypto going mainstream, expects more bank engagement – Ledger Insights #banks #congress #CryptoAssets #cryptocurrency #DigitalAssets #Economy #FederalReserveSystem #JeromePowell #stablecoin #UsFederalReserve #UsHouseOfRepresentatives #UsSenate
https://www.europesays.com/2195656/ Trump tax bill event aims to pressure Senate Republicans #BreakingNews:Politics #BusinessNews #congress #DonaldTrump #elections #GovernmentTaxationAndRevenue #Legislation #NationalTaxes #Politics #SocialIssues #taxes #trump #U.S.RepublicanParty #UsSenate #WhiteHouse