Overview
- The Senate approved the 51–48 rescissions package to withdraw $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- The measure now moves to the House, where lawmakers are expected to pass it by Friday, imperiling grants to PBS, NPR and hundreds of local stations
- KQED announced 15 percent workforce cuts after projecting a $12 million budget deficit tied to the potential loss of federal support
- Filmmaker Ken Burns and PBS chief Paula Kerger have lobbied senators and criticized the reductions as shortsighted threats to democratic accountability
- Smaller and rural stations face the greatest risk of programming cuts and lost emergency-alert capabilities if key CPB funding is rescinded