Latest news with #budget cuts
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PBS, NPR And Public Media Set To Lose Federal Funding As Package Of Spending Cuts Clears Congress
UPDATED, with additional comments: PBS, NPR and public stations are facing the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funding, as the House cleared final passage of a package of cuts likely to alter the landscape of public media. The House voted 216 to 213 early Friday for the so-called rescissions package, which was sent to Congress at the request of President Donald Trump. The $9 billion in cuts also include rollbacks in funding to foreign aid and health programs. The package will now go to the White House for Trump's signature. More from Deadline How Public Media Lost The Federal Funding Battle, And What Happens Next To Stations, NPR And PBS Donald Trump Says He Plans To Sue Rupert Murdoch, And The Wall Street Journal Over Jeffrey Epstein Story - Update Ken Burns Calls Trump's Federal Funding Cuts To Public Broadcasting "So Shortsighted" The move will leave the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity set up by Congress to distribute funds to public media outlets, with zeroed out federal funding for the first time since it was formed in 1967. The rescinded money had already been allocated by Congress for the next two fiscal years, starting on April 1. Katherine Maher, the president and CEO of NPR, said that the funding cuts were 'an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will.' 'Despite promises from some members of Congress to fix anything the bill breaks, this will be an irreversible loss,' she said. 'If a station doesn't survive this sudden turn by Congress, a vital stitch in our American fabric will be gone for good.' She said that 'with support from listeners and readers in communities around the nation,' they 'will work to rebuild.' Public media advocates, PBS producers and personalities, station managers and viewers and listeners have been lobbying congressional representatives in recent weeks to preserve the funding, pointing to the unique mandate of the non-commercial outlets to provide educational, cultural and local programming, among other content. But Trump has targeted PBS and NPR, and their news programming in particular, as biased toward the left. That has long been a common complaint on the right, but the president this time around threatened to withhold support or endorsements from any lawmakers who did not support the package. 'Here's the truth: If this rescissions packages was not put forth and passed by Congress, taxpayer dollars would still be funneled to ideologues at PBS and NPR,' said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). But Democrats said that funding for public media and foreign aid were being sacrificed after Republicans pushed through the centerpiece of Trump's legislative agenda, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax and spending legislation, which passed earlier this month, will add more than $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Republicans 'blow up the budget for billionaires and then they nickel and dime everyone else to pretend that they care about the debt and deficit,' said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA). 'It's nuts.' Advocates had hoped to win over enough Republicans to defeat the measure. Only two, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) joined with all Democrats in voting against it. Two other Republicans, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), voted for the rescissions after voting against them when the bill first came before the House last month. After the vote, Trump posted on Truth Social, 'HOUSE APPROVES NINE BILLION DOLLAR CUTS PACKAGE, INCLUDING ATROCIOUS NPR AND PUBLIC BROADCASTING, WHERE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR WERE WASTED. REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED DOING THIS FOR 40 YEARS, AND FAILED….BUT NO MORE. THIS IS BIG!!!' Best of Deadline The Movies That Have Made More Than $1 Billion At The Global Box Office 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Everything We Know About 'Stranger Things' Season 5 So Far
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PBS, NPR And Public Media Set To Lose Federal Funding As Package Of Spending Cuts Clears Congress
PBS, NPR and public stations are facing the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funding, as the House cleared final passage of a package of cuts likely to alter the landscape of public media. The House voted 216 to 213 early Friday for the so-called rescissions package, which was sent to Congress at the request of President Donald Trump. The $9 billion in cuts also include rollbacks in funding to foreign aid and health programs. The package will now go to the White House for Trump's signature. More from Deadline Donald Trump Says He Plans To Sue Rupert Murdoch, And The Wall Street Journal Over Jeffrey Epstein Story - Update Ken Burns Calls Trump's Federal Funding Cuts To Public Broadcasting "So Shortsighted" Peter Bart: With YouTube Soaring, PBS Fading And Film Struggling, Critics As We Know Them Might Be An Endangered Species The move will leave the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity set up by Congress to distribute funds to public media outlets, with zeroed out federal funding for the first time since it was formed in 1967. The rescinded money had already been allocated by Congress for the next two fiscal years, starting on April 1. Public media advocates, PBS producers and personalities, station managers and viewers and listeners have been lobbying congressional representatives in recent weeks to preserve the funding, pointing to the unique mandate of the non-commercial outlets to provide educational, cultural and local programming, among other content. But Trump has targeted PBS and NPR, and their news programming in particular, as biased toward the left. That has long been a common complaint on the right, but the president this time around threatened to withhold support or endorsements from any lawmakers who did not support the package. 'Here's the truth: If this rescissions packages was not put forth and passed by Congress, taxpayer dollars would still be funneled to ideologues at PBS and NPR,' said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). But Democrats said that funding for public media and foreign aid were being sacrificed after Republicans pushed through the centerpiece of Trump's legislative agenda, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax and spending legislation, which passed earlier this month, will add more than $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Republicans 'blow up the budget for billionaires and then they nickel and dime everyone else to pretend that they care about the debt and deficit,' said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA). 'It's nuts.' More to come. Best of Deadline The Movies That Have Made More Than $1 Billion At The Global Box Office 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Everything We Know About 'Stranger Things' Season 5 So Far
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
PBS, NPR Set to Lose Federal Funding as Senate Passes DOGE Cuts
By , Erik Wasson, and Jack Fitzpatrick Save Republicans are set to succeed in their decades-long quest to end federal funding for public broadcasting after the Senate passed a $9 billion package of cuts derived from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency effort. The Senate voted 51 to 48 to approve the cuts to the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio and a swath of foreign aid. Two Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska — voted no.
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
After mounting pressure over education cuts, Quebec announces $540M for students
Weeks after mounting pressure from unions and opposition parties for making cuts to education, François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has announced more than half a billion dollars for student services. Education Minister Bernard Drainville announced on social media Wednesday that the provincial government will invest $540 million for the school network and that all funds 'must be used to finance direct services to students, not for anything else.' Quebec's education ministry had come under fire after announcing at the end of the last school year that the network would have to reduce its spending by nearly $570 million by the fall. The ministry had asked English school boards and French-language service centres to cut $510.8 million from the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and an additional $56.9 million from the private schools – for a total of $567.7 million. The announcement on Wednesday did not mention whether or not the requested budget cuts still stand. In response to the request in June, Parti Québécois (PQ) MNA Pascal Bérubé launched a petition on the National Assembly website, calling on the government not to make any cuts that would directly affect student services. As of late Wednesday morning, it had collected 157,739 signatures. Reacting to Drainville's announcement, Bérubé said the newly announced funding is the result of his 'record-breaking petition in education.' On Wednesday, Drainville said in a post on X that he consulted with school organizations and listened to their feedback over the past month. 'These past few weeks have provided an opportunity to review CSS [Centre de services scolaire] spending. This exercise will not continue and intensify,' the minister wrote. On annonce une enveloppe pouvant atteindre 540 millions de dollars pour les services aux élèves. On choisit l'éducation, on choisit nos élèves, sans sacrifier la bonne gestion. Déclaration 👇🏼 — Bernard Drainville (@BDrainvilleQc) July 16, 2025 The new money does come with some conditions. Of the $540 million announced, $425 million will be allocated to a dedicated envelope, and each CSS will have to 'demonstrate that it has made efforts to reduce its administrative expenses and commit to using the money solely for student services. Accountability will be required,' according to Drainville. He added: 'The maximum number of employees at certain CSSs is being increased to take into account their specific circumstances, particularly an increase in the number of students to be enrolled in their territory. In concrete terms, all CSSs will see their budgets increase.' More to come.
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Oakland shelters no longer required to accept surrendered pets
At Tuesday afternoon's meeting, the Oakland City Council approved a new ordinance that would allow its animal shelter to refuse unwanted or abandoned pets being surrendered to their care. The head of Animal Services said it's a best practice, but some volunteers point out that it's only happening because of budget cuts. On Tuesday, if someone had an animal to turn into the shelter, they were out of luck. Prior budget cuts have closed the facility to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But the new policy, just approved, would allow them to refuse new animals at any time when there just isn't enough room or staff to care for them. Oakland Animal Services Interim Director Joe DeVries said other cities have a similar ordinance. "We want to be abiding by best practices," he said. "But it's also true that by doing that we will make it easier for the staff, so the staffing shortage won't have as severe an impact." Oakland had always been what's known as an "open admissions" shelter. By law, they were required to accept any animal surrendered to them. The new ordinance will give them discretion. But some volunteers, who make up the majority of the shelter's workforce, say it's just an excuse to accept inexcusable cuts to their budget. "What they're changing is, the shelter can say, 'Well, we can't take this dog, we can't take this cat because we no longer have the staffing, the resources, the ability to do it,'" said volunteer Johanna Widger. "And that's the problem. The problem is that they keep cutting the budget. Just recently, they cut eight permanent full-time staffing positions, so we'll have even less people working with the animals. It's just a mess and we want the people of Oakland to know about this." Widger and Willow Liroff donate their time in taking care of the animals in the shelter. They said the new ordinance may be a practical reality, but it will have dire consequences in the future, when people begin abandoning their animals in the community. "We have people in the parking lot letting animals loose. We have people in our streets, at parks. This problem is only going to compound," said Liroff. "We have never seen such a severe and drastic staffing shortage as we have now. To lose eight full-time positions from an already skeleton crew staff is devastating. And the shelter is truly in crisis because of it." And the heartbreaking results were suddenly there to see. A woman arrived carrying a tiny newborn kitten she had just found in the street. "This little baby was under a car, a parked car," she said, expecting to drop it off. But then she was told there was no one available to accept it, and she left with the kitten still in her arms. Whether it lived or died was now her problem. The volunteers said the shelter has been an easy target for the budget ax and they have been dealing with more and more cuts every year. But now, they say they have been cut too far and the solution of turning away animals from an animal shelter is really no solution at all. "I had to bring this up because I think that it's important for people to know that we've had death by a thousand cuts!" said Widger. "With the staffing crisis, there's no easy immediate answer for it, but changing an ordinance is something that is disastrous to the community," said Liroff. Director DeVries said, rather than surrendering their pets, he would prefer a system that tries to connect owners with the help they may need to keep their animals. But the volunteers said, after the budget cuts there is simply no one left in the building to do that.
