Klobuchar says rural radio stations would go under due to GOP cuts
'My hope is that we find some way to get through this, and so we don't see a bunch of rural stations going under, which is what will happen and it won't be the big city ones, it will be the rural ones,' Klobuchar told The Hill's Alex Bolton at the Hill Nation Summit.
The bill, which the House passed in June, includes around $8 billion in cuts for the United States Agency for International Development and another $1 billion cut to CPB. Some GOP senators, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), have expressed concerns about the proposed cuts to public broadcasting.
Klobuchar, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, discussed the roles radio and television stations play in Minnesota's rural communities.
'These rural stations are often the lifeblood of these communities when it comes to emergency alerts,' Klobuchar said, pointing to the station's coverage of air quality and wildfires in neighboring Canada.
'These are things that, they sound small, but they are what bring communities together,' she said.
Klobuchar said on Wednesday that she has been contacted by former Republican state legislators in Minnesota who live in rural areas and sit on the boards of local TV stations.
'We know there's going to be some changes to the bill, so it's going to go back to the House. So I was disappointed in the vote last night. I think we should be asserting our power,' the Minnesota Democrat said.
Senate Republicans argue that they have enough votes to pass the package, which would be another victory for President Trump, who signed his 'big, beautiful' reconciliation package into law on July 4.
Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, struck a side agreement with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to repurpose Interior Department money to aid around 28 radio stations in 14 states that broadcast on tribal lands.
Minutes before Klobuchar spoke on Wednesday, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said that CPB, the nonprofit that helps to fund PBS and NPR, was 'an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.'
'I don't think that's the role of the federal government,' said the Texas Republican.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Democratic socialist in Maryland legislature ready to ‘fight like hell,' says party moving in his direction
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'If you look at where our base, where our constituency and where America is trending, we have to focus on working-class issues — from housing to socioeconomic, gender, environmental, justice — and we can't just continue to provide lip service as a party,' he said. 'We have to fight like hell, not just for the policies, but for workers and the working class. And that's what I've been committed to in the legislature and will continue to do so.' Del. Matt Morgan, a Republican from St. Mary's County, said he knows Acevero well and considers him 'a nice guy.' He said it's 'undeniable' that the Democratic Party is shifting in Acevero's direction. And, in fact, 'it's already there,' Morgan said. He thinks the push into socialism is ultimately a losing proposition for Maryland voters. 'Socialism has a 100% failure rate. The more it's implemented in Maryland, the more people are going to leave,' Morgan said. Recent elections in New York and Minnesota are perhaps indications that the word 'socialism' does not carry the same negative connotation among voters today — especially among Generation Z and younger millennials born after the Cold War, according to Flavio Hickel, an associate professor of political science at Washington College. These voters, and others who increasingly identify as 'working class,' believe Democrats 'need to offer a more ambitious, aggressive, and left-leaning' policy vision, Hickel told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday. 'I don't think mainstream Democrats would regard what [Acevero] said as probably all that offensive or problematic,' Hickel said. 'They just might differ in sort of, the tactics — how far, how quick and how aggressively do we pursue progressive change?' A staff member for the Maryland Democratic Party did not immediately respond to The Sun's request for comment on Acevero's claims that Democrats are moving in his direction. 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CNN
25 minutes ago
- CNN
Powell privately adamant that he will serve out his full term at the Fed
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Powell's determination to serve out his term through May 2026 ensures he will remain the target of a White House-led attacks on the Fed, which has faced intensifying pressure to cut interest rates. That coordinated effort has put the central bank's traditionally staid decision-making under intense scrutiny — and raised fresh concerns about the potential economic consequences of meddling with monetary policy for political purposes. A low-key economic expert who did a stint in the George H.W. Bush administration, Powell has earned a reputation over more than a decade at the Fed as studiously non-partisan 'straight shooter' who relies on reams of data to make decisions, according to people who worked with him. His detachment from day-to-day politics, despite what one of the people described as his moderately conservative learnings, helped Powell earn bipartisan support in the Senate when Trump nominated him to chair the Fed in 2017. 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USA Today
25 minutes ago
- USA Today
Republicans in Congress head home to angry voters. So much for summer break.
The Jeffrey Epstein case has grown into a full-blown problem for Republicans who were already failing Americans. And that feels like a lose-lose scenario as 2026 midterm elections loom. What are you doing during your summer vacation? U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson apparently plans to spend his six-week break trying to get his story straight about the Epstein files fiasco. That's a daunting challenge for the Republican from Louisiana, who has flip-flopped from calling for "transparency" on the issue to sending the House home early on July 22 to shut down Republican attempts to release those files. But that's life when you unconditionally surrender the Article I powers that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress as a coequal branch of government to a scandal-prone presidency held by Donald Trump. If Johnson's vacation were a scary summer movie, we'd have to call it 'I Know What You Did With the Epstein Files.' Things don't look much better for the Republicans who are in control of the U.S. Senate. Trump wants that chamber to work through the summer break so it can rubber-stamp his nominees for various positions. If this also were a horror film, it would be a sequel – "No Way Out, Again" – because Trump did the same thing with a compliant Senate during his first term in 2018. So here are the options for congressional Republicans from now until early September: Go home and endure town halls with constituents angry about Trump's broken promise to release the Epstein files and the looming negative impacts of his signature budget bill. Or stay in Washington and answer a growing rush of questions as the Epstein news keeps beating like a "Tell-Tale Heart." Scary stuff, indeed. Epstein files put a stop to Republicans' victory lap Johnson has served less as a speaker of the House and more like a servant to Trump's expectations. And that was working for him. 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But then Trump, who promised while campaigning in 2024 to release the Department of Justice's files on Epstein, decided recently to keep them secret, enraging his own supporters and putting his Republican allies in Congress in a tight spot. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Attorney General Pam Bondi is reported to have briefed Trump in May that he is mentioned in those very files that his supporters want to see released. So Trump's in a tight spot, too. Johnson's slipshod response to the Epstein secrecy has been to advocate for transparency, which Trump doesn't want, and then revert to presidential servitude by trying to stamp out any attempts at transparency. This has provoked something we rarely see anymore – bipartisanship – as Republican and Democratic members of the House voted together to subpoena the Epstein files. This doesn't look like it will simmer down in six weeks. Americans are clearly unhappy with Trump's Republican regime Republicans are hitting the road with a story that isn't selling well. A July 23 Fox News poll found that 67% of American voters think Trump's administration has not been transparent about Epstein, including 60% of the Republicans surveyed and 56% of Trump's so-called MAGA supporters. And then there's this: Fox News found that 4 out of 5 people in the survey said they were following the Epstein case. We're closing in on the end of July – vacation season – and these people are tuned all the way in on this. Trump's budget bill was also underwater in the poll, with 58% disapproving and 39% in support. That makes for testy town halls, if the Republicans dare to hold them in the next six weeks. And that feels like a lose-lose scenario with the 2026 midterm elections looming ever larger. Face your angry constituents and be ready to go viral on social media, exactly the kind of things that would-be opponents mine for campaign commercials. Or duck and cover and get branded a coward, exactly the kind of thing that would-be opponents exploit for campaign commercials. No matter which way Republicans go, at home or in Washington, they should first ask themselves: Does Trump care about how any of this impacts me and my future in politics, or is he only interested in protecting himself? I think they already know the answer. Trump is – now, in the past, in the future, always – looking out only for himself. That prompts two more questions. Why is he working so hard to keep the Epstein files secret? And do you really want to be on the record helping him with that secrecy if the files are finally released? Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.
