Before Senate voted To pass a rescue package on Thursday morning, including major cuts for public broadcasting, National Public Radio President and CEO Catherine Maihar warned, “Defining it is a real risk for the country’s public safety.”
Maher said in an interview with CBS News, “Public media, public radio, public television, are an important part of the emergency response plans of about half states in this nation.” “If this type of emergency alerting goes away, you will have less outlets to be able to react in real time” for future natural disasters.
In June, the White House asked the Congress to cancel $ 9.4 billion in appropriation that was previously approved. Request, known as Rescue package, Passed in the house in mid -June And with international assistance, there will be a cut of about $ 8 billion, including organizations such as United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. The Senate added an amendment to exempt $ 400 million in global health funding for Peppar, which started a program to compete with HIV/AIDS in developing countries during Bush administration.
Revised package Passed by 51-48 votesWith Republican sensor. Susan Colins and Lisa Murkovski joined Democrats in voting against it.
“My responsibility is for my components and constitution,” Murkowski told reporters after voting against the first Esophagical Vote on Tuesday .. “So I look at the Constitution and say that this is … The legislative branch which has the power of the purse. I personally take the charge, and so I am going to execute it.”
In addition to foreign aid cuts, the package includes $ 1.1 billion in cuts for Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which gives money to 1,500 local public radio and television stations across the country.
The law follows an executive order by President Trump in May, directing the corporation to the Public Broadcasting Board, which NPR and PBS, accusing them of biased bias, to prevent federal funding for public broadcasting service.
The order stated, “Neither the unit presents a fair, accurate or fair illustration of current events to the citizens,” the order states.
Maher Earlier testified In March, before a House subcommittee with PBS CEO Paula Kargar, where he defended his organizations from allegations of bias. In his interview this week, Maher reiterated that NPR prioritizes stories that “directly talk to the political interests and changing beliefs of Americans.”
“I take all criticisms seriously, as I think any news organization should be,” said Maher. “And if there is an assumption that we are not serving the entire range of American political life, we need to answer it.”
Prior to Friday’s deadline, Mr. Trump urged Republican to support Punjabac or lose their support.
“It is very important that all Republicans follow my recipe bills and in particular, save the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN and MSDNC,” Shri Trump said in a true social post this month, said in a true social post. “Any Republican who votes to allow this demon to propagate will not support or support me.”
Democratic and Republican Senator have expressed concern about public broadcasting cuts, especially for those who serve rural and native communities. During Wednesday’s vote-e-Ram, Sen Maria Cantwell warned that abolishing money for CPB could endanger those who rely on radio for emergency information.
“We are not only putting PBS at risk here, we are putting millions of Americans who depend on local media for life-saving information [at risk]”A Democrat, a Democrat, said in a floor speech.” And what is in this rescue request, in fact it is making sure that public broadcasters do not have the capacity, in at least 20 states where they have emergency plans. ,
South Dakota Sen Mike Rounds, a GOP holdout, who initially expressed doubts about the rescue package, said that this week he intends to support it after working with the White House, which for tribal stations to reuse unused funding through unused funds for the interior.
“This will keep them in operation. It will be for one year in a year,” the rounds said.
The rescue comes on the heels of the package Destructive July 4 floods On the Guadalup River of Texas, which releases more than 130 dead and the search efforts are still untrust for more than 100.
Since the tragedy, there have been questions about the efficiency of Emergency alert systems – Many of which, Maher said, rely on public broadcasting.
Maher said that such communities such as funding cuts in rural areas would feel the greatest impact. He said that some NPR stations get “more than 50% of their budget” from federal funds and can face difficult decisions, from staffing trimmed to potential station closure.
WDIY, Leh Valley, Pennsylvania has a mixture of a public radio station, news and music programming, produced by four employees with a host of community volunteers. About 15% of its overall budget comes from CPB funding.
“Losing that money would mean that we will have to take some serious decisions about NPR programming as that money helps us pay for that programming,” the Executive Executive Director of WDIY, Margconal told CBS News, “that we will have to make some serious decisions about NPR programming.”
Without region-specific news and small stations producing media, Maher warned that it can be more difficult for such communities to get information usually provided through local radio.
“We lose something fundamental as a nation if public media goes away,” said Maher.
