Senate on Track to Narrowly Pass CPB Funding Rescission; Democrats Seek Amendments

The Senate appeared all but assured to pass HR-4’s CPB rescissions Tuesday night after Vice President JD Vance broke 50-50 ties on two votes to advance the measure for floor action. Only three Republican senators joined Democrats in trying to block the measure: Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins of Maine, former GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. McConnell later flipped, joining other Republicans in opposing several pro-CPB amendments.

Senators voted 51-48 against three Democratic CPB-focused motions to recommit on HR-4. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., sought a motion that would have ensured the CPB rescission “cannot advance if it impacts public safety.” The other motion, from Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, would have modified the CPB cuts to “exclude amounts designated to support [stations that] primarily serve rural areas or Tribal communities.” HR-4 lead sponsor Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued the motions “would kill the bill by delaying its consideration by the July 18 deadline [to enact it] and stand in the way of Republican efforts to eliminate wasteful spending and deliver on [President Donald Trump’s] agenda.”

The third motion to recommit, from Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, that would have blocked defunding if it hurt the emergency alert system. Schmitt argued Democrats’ claim that defunding CPB would “prevent Americans from receiving emergency alerts is demonstrably not only fearmongering but not true.” The chamber was also set to vote on an amendment led by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., that would remove the CPB defunding from HR-4 entirely.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., argued on the floor Wednesday that the Trump administration wanted to “pull the plug on” PBS’ emergency alerts infrastructure. “Every PBS transmitter becomes a backup lifeline for emergency alerts, ensuring that warnings about tornadoes, fires, floods and evacuations reach your cellphone in seconds” if other systems go down, she said. “Why would we want anybody to miss a disaster alert?”

Rounds Cites Interior Money

As expected, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., supported HR-4’s advancement after securing a White House OMB commitment on an alternative funding source to provide money to Native American radio stations (see 2507150086). Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia was another notable Republican who some public broadcasting advocates hoped would oppose HR-4; ultimately she backed moving forward on the measure.

Rounds told us Tuesday night that the tribal stations’ funding would come from the Interior Department. “It's money that was going for climate change legislation that has not been released by the administration,” he said. “They've indicated they do have the resources” and would be “reprogramming” that money. Rounds said the funding would go to 28 tribal-owned stations across nine states, rather than to entities in South Dakota only. Those stations need protection because they “were caught in the crossfire” of criticism against NPR and PBS, he said.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., faulted the tribal stations carve-out. “It's clear that my Republican colleagues understand the importance of this funding, at least on tribal lands,” he said in an interview. “Otherwise, why would they do the carve-out?” which he cited as affecting only South Dakota. Lujan asked if the Republicans feel it’s important to still fund “tribal radio stations, why not for everywhere else? If the need exists in one state, it's hard for me to understand that it doesn't exist everywhere else in America.”

America’s Public Television Stations CEO Kate Riley told us ahead of the votes that the group is “extremely concerned” the Senate would pass HR-4 with the CPB rescission intact and argued the tribal stations carve-out is “wholly inadequate” as an alternate funding source. “We've heard from a number of senators, including a handful of Republican senators, who are also concerned about what the loss of service in their local communities will look like if this rescission package goes through.”

“While we appreciate senators raising concerns about the future of [tribal] stations, because those stations would very much be at risk of closing without CPB funding, [the redirected Interior money] is a short-term half-measure that would provide one tranche of funding,” Riley told us. “That funding would not even cover all of the support that CPB provides these stations in terms of infrastructure, in terms of music licensing and copyright fees that CPB negotiates and pays for on behalf of the system.”