Senate Republicans defund public media

Senate Republicans on Thursday approved a billion package of spending cuts slashing funds for foreign aid and citizens broadcasting after an all-night session The rescissions bill part of President Donald Trump s effort to claw back previously authorized federal spending passed - just before dawn following a marathon vote-a-rama in which Republicans defeated a series of amendments aimed at preserving funding for certain international programs Related The MAGA war on PBS was never about money This is a small but major step toward fiscal sanity Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S D noted noting that it was the first time in decades the Senate had passed such a package The House passed an earlier version of the bill in June but because Senate Republicans made changes including dropping a proposed million cut to the U S -backed HIV AIDS undertaking PEPFAR the measure must now return to the House Both chambers must agree on a final version before Friday for the cuts to take effect The bill takes back funds that Congress previously approved including approximately billion from global vitality and international aid programs and over billion from the Corporation for Residents Broadcasting which primarily supports NPR and PBS Amendments to protect these funds failed Sens Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska and Susan Collins R-Maine voted against the bill along with all Democrats We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in the modern day to promotion Salon s progressive journalism Certain other Republicans expressed frustration with the rushed process and lack of details from the White House however Sen Roger Wicker R-Miss voted for the bill but warned Let s not consider this a precedent give us the specific amounts and the specific programs that will be cut The vote came just days after Senate Republicans passed another controversial measure that cut taxes for the wealthy while stripping funding from social services Democrats condemned Thursday s cuts as harmful and shortsighted Millions get their news from NPR and PBS every day For crisis alerts calamity updates the weather and other reliable news announced Sen Tammy Duckworth D-Ill on X Stations in rural areas which rely twice as much on federal funding could close Defunding this basic utility would put millions in the dark Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Program Americans rely on community radio for severe weather alerts and more added Sen Chris van Hollen D-Md Senate Republicans want to gut populace broadcasting to make room for their billionaire tax cuts and the consequences could be deadly especially in rural America We must stop this bill Sen Chris Murphy D-Conn focused on the geopolitical implications of the cuts The Republican campaign to destroy all our non-military national safeguard tools on display last night underscores their dangerous misunderstanding of the world China and Russia spend billions on things like information warfare and economic coercion as Trump disarms he wrote on social media The House is expected to take up the Senate s version later Thursday If a final agreement isn t reached by Friday the rescissions package will expire and the funds will remain available Read more about GOP austerity Death sexual violence and human trafficking The global fallout from killing USAID million dead by the end of the year Ex-USAID chief says aid cuts will kill starving children Rural hospitals will be hit hard by Trump s signature spending package The post Senate Republicans defund citizens media appeared first on Salon com