On Thursday, June 13, the U.S. House narrowly passed H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, by a vote of 214 to 212.
I am deeply disappointed by this decision, which advances a proposal to rescind $1.1 billion in previously approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — including over $700 million that directly supports local public media like ours.
This funding is already built into our budget at KAXE and makes up 13% of our annual operating support. It’s not abstract. It’s the dollars that allow us to:
- Provide real-time wildfire alerts and road closure updates to rural communities
- Air local election coverage, forums and voter guides tailored to our region
- Support student-produced nature content from area classrooms
- Deliver a daily newscast focused entirely on Northern Minnesota
- Stay on the air during power outages with emergency updates
If rescission moves forward and this support disappears, it could silence small stations like ours across the country, where we are often the only consistent source of local news and information.
The outcome of the House vote was extremely close. The proposal now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers have until July 18 to act. If the Senate passes the bill, this funding will be permanently eliminated. If they reject it or take no action, the funding will remain in place.
We are grateful to the lawmakers who stood up for local journalism and community voices, and urge the Senate to do the same. Public media has had bipartisan support for over 50 years because it works for everyone.
We remain committed to the mission of public service. But we cannot do this work without support.
We encourage everyone who values trusted, independent local news to visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org and contact your senators. If you’d like to help directly, you can also support our work by donating at kaxe.org.
Thank you for standing with us.
