Senate Passes Rescissions, Axing $1.1B in Broadcasting Funds

The Senate has officially voted to cut $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds, thereby sending the overarching rescissions package back to the House.

That early morning passage arrived following a bit of legislative turbulence for the cutbacks bill, now involving about $9 billion in total spending. As we previously reported ahead of a procedural vote, senators opted to exclude a $400 million AIDS-prevention package from the rescissions.

Coinciding with a couple other efforts to shore up Republican support, the maneuver was evidently enough to get the measure over the finish line in the Senate. Even so, two Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the package, which passed 51 to 48. (One lawmaker didn’t vote.)

Now, owing to the Senate’s mentioned changes, the modified rescissions are heading back to the House for a second vote.

Though the exact timing here is unclear, the House must push the bill into the endzone by “midnight on Friday” under a decades-old budget-control law, Roll Call explained. From there, the package would head to the president’s desk for final approval, marking the first successful rescissions since 1999.

Shifting from the legislative particulars and to the actual cuts, the package will claw back almost $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), referring to $535 million annually across two years. The CPB, in turn, provides grants to NPR, PBS, and local member stations.

Of course, the entities aren’t exactly thrilled about the sliced funding. However, as calculated by the New York Times, NPR only receives roughly 2% of its annual budget directly from federal grants, compared to 15% for PBS.

Thus, while their wider operations won’t cease in light of the axed spending, a number of local member stations, many in rural locations, could shut down. Time will tell exactly what this means for the impacted individuals, though it’s worth noting that 96% of American adults used the internet as of 2024.

And to state the obvious, there’s a limitless supply of news and entertainment on the web. On the programming-specific side, Sesame Street previously aired on HBO and, under a newer deal, is showing on both PBS and Netflix.

Just from an accessibility perspective, as a substantial portion of Americans watch Netflix content, it probably wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if it (and other shows) eventually transitioned exclusively to streaming. Adjacent to the stat, YouTube, which an even bigger percentage of Americans reportedly use, is riding a wave of consumption growth.