On Friday, May 2, the White House sent Congress its Fiscal Year 2026 budget requesting the complete elimination of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the private corporation that flows federal funding to local stations and supports key infrastructure through which stations operate and work together in serving local communities.
On Thursday, May 1, an Executive Order was issued directing CPB and other federal agencies to halt funding to NPR and PBS. The order also targets indirect support, including prohibiting local public media stations from using federal funds to support NPR or PBS.
Still pending but expected soon is a White House memo asking Congress to rescind (take back) $1.1 billion in already appropriated funding for CPB, funding that local stations have been counting on and is vital for keeping the nation’s public broadcasting system operating.
These actions pose the most direct and significant threats to federal support of public broadcasting and to the operation and independence of local public radio and TV stations that has ever occurred.
How defunding and other actions affect HPPR
Over 70% of the federal funding for CPB funding goes directly to local stations as operating grants. The rest supports stations in other ways by funding shared technical infrastructure, paying music royalties, assisting stations in growing state and local news coverage, investing in new national programming and many other essential areas. Loss of funding endangers the entire public media system of local stations that’s been created over the past 60 years and now serves 99% of Americans with a wide selection of free high quality programming.
HPPR’s current operating grant from CPB is $222,000, about 15% of the total annual budget. CPB also provides about $66,000 of indirect annual support through its funding of system-wide resources on which HPPR depends. The expected rescission request covers two years of already appropriated funding (FY26 and FY27), so the total loss in direct and indirect support for HPPR would be about $576,000. The elimination of funding in future years would mean similar losses for HPPR.
Without this funding HPPR would be hard pressed to continue its current levels of service, including operating transmitters reaching the most rural areas of the High Plains, providing two 24/7 programming services (HPPR Mix and HPPR Connect) with their wide range of local, national and international programming, covering state and regional news, and promoting the work of local music, arts, culture, education and social service organizations across the region.
What you can do to help
- Call or email your U.S. Senators and Representative now, and urge them to support continued federal funding of public broadcasting and oppose any take back (rescission) of already appropriated funding. See the contact list below or reach them through the Public My Public Media portal. For guidance and suggestions when contacting them, click here.
- Urge anyone you know who uses and supports public media to contact their Senators and Representative as well.
- If you’ve never contributed to HPPR before or if it's been a while since you gave, now is the time when your support really matters. Direct support from individuals has always been the mainstay of HPPR and is a declaration of the value you and your community receive from HPPR. Give here.
- Stay tuned to HPPR and visit hppr.org for updates on White House and Congressional actions and how they affect HPPR.
- To receive email alerts and updates on the status of defunding and other actions against public media, sign-up with Protect My Public Media and encourage others to sign-up as well.
- If you have questions about the threats being faced or how HPPR would be affected, please contact Abby Killingsworth, HPPR Development Director (akillingsworth@hppr.org, 800-678-7444) or Quentin Hope, HPPR Executive Director (qhope@hppr.org).
Contact information for Senators and Representatives in the HPPR coverage area:
Kansas
Sen. Jerry Moran, email, (202) 224–6521
KS Rep. Tracy Mann, email, (202) 225–2715
KS Sen. Roger Marshall, email, (202) 224–4774
Texas
TX Sen. Ted Cruz, email, (202) 224–5922, 127A
TX Sen. John Cornyn, email, (202) 224–2934
TX Rep. Ronny Jackson, email, (202) 225–3706
Colorado
CO Sen. Michael F. Bennet, email, (202) 224–5852
CO Sen. John Hickenlooper, email, (202) 224–5941
CO Rep. Lauren Boebert, email, (202) 225–4761
Oklahoma
OK Sen. James Lankford, email, (202) 224–5754
OK Sen. Markwayne Mullin, email, (202) 224–4721
OK Rep. Frank Lucas, email, (202) 225–5565
