House GOP Passes Rescission Bill That Will Kill NPR and PBS

Okay, y’all, I’m angry again, and this time it’s also because of something important. These two places did a lot for me when I was in high school and college. Seriously, what a pair of good agencies to take down! What about all the thousands of people who watch and listen to it because they can’t get anything else or don’t want to be bothered by other news? What about the shows that have a following? What about the music?

Conservative activists have waited decades to defund PBS and NPR. They’re finally getting their chance. Richard Nixon tried. Ronald Reagan tried. President Donald Trump tried during his first term in office. All three Republican presidents wanted to strip taxpayer support for PBS and NPR stations. But all three men were stymied by Congress. This time is different, though. Trump, emboldened in his second term, sent a package of spending cuts to Capitol Hill earlier this month, and on Thursday afternoon, the House of Representatives voted to pass the measure, 214-212.

They’re going to do it. They’re going to kill it, because they think it’s too ‘liberal’. Good grief. That’s not a reason, it’s a prejudice! “Sesame Street” is too liberal? “Antiques Road Show” is too liberal? Oh, mercy, they’re forcing a personal prejudice into public view. I count “they” as anyone who is against this. Because? Ridiculous!

Four Republicans sided with Democrats in rejecting the rare bill known as a “rescissions” package. But since it moved forward, the Senate now has five weeks to approve the spending cuts. If the Senate ignores the proposal, the previously allocated spending will remain intact. Thursday’s passage is the closest NPR and PBS have ever come to a complete loss of federal funding. For public media officials, the bill is a worst-case scenario. But for conservative activists, it is a welcome change and the culmination of a very long campaign. “We are thrilled to finally get to this point,” NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham told CNN ahead of the House vote. “I’ve been documenting their taxpayer-funded tilt at MRC for 36 years.”

Grrrr. Tilt? What huh? So. “The core contention is that public broadcasting is infected with liberal bias and thus is not representative of the public as a whole.” Again, I say, what, huh? For years? I’ll bet my parents wouldn’t have let us watch and listen if it were like that. Balanced is good! I enjoyed them for a long, long time. Of course, conservatives would call *me* a liberal, so I’m thinking they have a pretty narrow viewpoint. Personally, I’m quite happy that a little of my taxes fund them.

The leaders of NPR and PBS reject that charge. “One of the advantages of public media is that we serve everyone, and it is a requirement and a mandate. It’s also a very important mission in polarized times,” NPR CEO Katherine Maher told CNN. One challenge with trying to be a middle-of-the-road platform is that “people don’t agree on what the middle is now,” she added.

Very good point! The middle is now radically different between MAGA and the other half of the country that has a brain. One is allll the way to the right (and supports Trumpolini), and the other is the middle with the occasional lean all the way to the left. But it’s not all the time!

Kari Lake, of all people, has thrust herself into the public eye again, to jump on the anti-funding bandwagon, saying, in part, that “hardworking Americans should no longer be forced to fund content they find objectionable.” Forced? What the hell does she mean by forced?

Taxpayer dollars go to fund PRS and NPR, but it is such a *small* portion of our taxes, it’s almost negligible. I don’t feel forced at all. I’m glad part of my taxes go to them. One last quote and then I will shush (ha) on this subject, at least.

Maher previewed the public media’s message for senators in a statement following the House vote. “If rescission passes and local stations go dark,” she said, “millions of Americans will no longer have access to locally owned, independent, nonprofit media and will bear the risk of living in a news desert, missing their emergency alerts, and hearing silence where classical, jazz and local artists currently play.”

We’ll be losing ALL of that. Don’t let them go dark, folks. Full article here. Call your Congress critters. We can fight against this! And, as always, thanks for sticking with me!

*****Please read ******

Zoomers, if you can help the Little Political Blog That Could keep trekking through cyberspace, we would appreciate it. My medical issues are still ongoing. I need to have a minor operation to remove a skin tumor. The hits just keep on coming, like a ’50s radio station. Thank you for all you do. Ursula

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