The Senate is set to vote this Wednesday on revoking already appropriated funding for public media, funding that is vital to HPPR and stations across the country. White House pressure is high to pass HR 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, but there is an opportunity to amend the act to save public media funding. Contact your Senators now to ask them to support removing defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from the rescission package.
At this point, phone calls are best and time is of the essence, so your views are heard before a vote is taken on Wednesday. If you’ve already contacted your Senators, please contact them again.
Click here for guidance on contacting them, and here for sample scripts. If you are a Kansas resident, more specific guidance can be found here.
Kansas: Jerry Moran, (202) 224-6521, email and Roger Marshall, (202) 224-4774, email
Texas: John Cornyn, (202) 224–2934, email and Ted Cruz,(202) 224–5922, email
Colorado: Michael Bennet,(202) 224–5852, email and John Hickenlooper, (202) 224–5941, email
Oklahoma: Markwayne Mullin, (202) 224-4721, email and James Lankford, (202) 224–575, email
The stakes are high and a great deal of misinformation has been spread in the push to take back two-years of appropriations for CPB that have already been approved by congress and the president. Supporters of the rescission focus on criticisms of “bias” by NPR and PBS and the need to cut “wasteful” federal spending. But the actual impact of the defunding falls on local stations, since most of the federal funding for CPB flows directly to support stations’ local services. (For HPPR a take back of two years of CPB funding means the loss of about $550,000 of operating grants and $138,000 in critical shared services and technology support that are vital to HPPR’s operations.). Moreover, the annual funding for CPB funding amounts to less than .01% of the federal budget or about $1.60 per person, yet helps support over 1,500 locally owned and operated stations reaching and serving over 98% of the American public.
It’s important for your Senators to understand that public media is a valued local service and a very effective use of federal funds, with every one dollar in CPB funding bringing $7 in local support by stations nationwide. And you as a constituent are in the best position to inform your Senators of the real situation and urge them to support removing defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from the HR 4 rescission package.
Across nearly six decades and many administrations, there has been bi-partisan support for CPB funding that has helped build and sustain America’s unique public broadcasting system as a public good serving all citizens. Now just 50 votes in the Senate can undo this. There has never been a greater threat to public media in this country, including the High Plains, and your action in contacting your Senators has never been more important.
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If you have any questions about the rescission resolution (H.R. 4), the Senate voting process or how HPPR would be affected by rescission, please contact Abby Killingsworth, HPPR Development Director (akillingsworth@hppr.org, 800-678-7444) or Quentin Hope, HPPR Executive Director (qhope@hppr.org).
