I will confess that I haven't watched the live stream of Congress in action for a long time. But, for this bill I tuned in to watch the full floor debate and the votes get counted in real time. Mostly, Republicans railed against NPR and PBS, cherry-picking a list of the most egregious examples they could find of stories the networks produced that they believed were biased, woke, or unpatriotic ignoring the fact that the vast majority of CPB funding doesn't support NPR or PBS but local stations. Democrats held up dolls of Elmo and said that Republicans were cruel trying to kill Elmo and Daniel Tiger, a popular PBS kids’ program. As the votes started to be tabulated, six Republicans crossed over to vote against rescinding funds. I raised my fist and thought "we did it" since I knew the tight margins of the House would require only a few Republican votes to kill the bill if all Democrats voted against it as was expected. And then, two Republican votes magically changed to "yes," which I learned after the vote was the result of House leadership making undisclosed "promises" to them if they would switch their vote. Apparently, this kind of thing is permitted within the voting window, a practice that I think is sketchy at best during an era we've spent so much oxygen talking about the integrity of our voting procedures. Since four Democrats weren't present or didn't vote, the bill passed.
At JPR, the loss of CPB funding would result in an immediate $525,000 budget deficit we’d need to navigate starting on July 1st.
With its passage in the House, H.R. 4 now moves to the Senate, where it must be passed by a simple majority by July 18th in order to go into effect.
If the Senate passes the bill, it will create a seismic shift in the public media ecosystem, falling hardest on rural stations with expensive infrastructures that serve sparsely populated, less wealthy communities. Stations just like JPR. Since the bill would terminate funding in the current fiscal year, stations will have little time to plan and adapt. At JPR, the loss of CPB funding would result in an immediate $525,000 budget deficit we’d need to navigate starting on July 1st.
JPR’s service to the region is deeply rooted in the relationships we’ve built over more than five decades – a supportive licensee in Southern Oregon University, a talented professional staff, a committed volunteer corps, and one of the most generous public radio audiences in the nation. As we look forward to a future filled with great uncertainty, we encourage you to stay engaged in the political proces
s by sharing your views about the personal importance of public radio to your life at protectmypublicmedia.org and to support JPR to the best of your ability. We need each other now more than ever.
