House Communications Democrats Blast Republicans' CPB Defunding Over Public Safety Role
House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui of California and other Democrats used a Tuesday subpanel hearing on public safety communications issues (see 2509090062) as a forum to again lambaste Republicans for rescinding CPB’s FY 2026 and FY 2027 funding. CPB supporters unsuccessfully argued in July against Congress rescinding the money by citing public broadcasters’ role in transmitting emergency alerts (see 2507090062).
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Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee was continuing at our deadline to debate the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee’s funding bill, which lacks language to restore any of the $1.1 billion in federal money for CPB that Congress clawed back in July via the 2025 Rescissions Act (see 2509030065).
Senate Appropriations’ report on the LHHS bill said the panel decided not to restore any of CPB’s FY26 funding because its “leadership appointed by the Biden Administration … failed to abide by the statutory requirement that the CPB adhere to principals of political impartiality … resulting in taxpayer funding being used to subsidize politicized messaging in promotion of Democrat candidates and policy priorities.”
“Republicans are bending the knee as President [Donald] Trump takes a wrecking ball to our public safety infrastructure,” including by seeking CPB’s defunding, Matsui said. “Republicans gave in to [Trump’s] demands to cancel over a billion dollars in funding to [public broadcasters that] reached nearly 99% of Americans and can send out emergency alerts even when cellular and internet service are down.” CPB “can no longer administer grants for the next-generation warning system, leaving in limbo millions of dollars in funding to upgrade local stations emergency alert equipment,” she said (see 2508180050).
Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., and Florida Public Radio Emergency Network Executive Director Randall Wright, a witness at the hearing, highlighted public broadcasters’ role in transmitting emergency alerts. “We all know when all else fails, the car radio is the last resort,” Soto said.
“The public broadcasting transmission system truly is our last-mile” communicator for emergency information, Wright said. “We need to maintain that investment to ensure that the citizens of Florida, South Carolina, and Missouri and every other state in the country has easy and better access to these critical alerts and advisories.”