1. United States
2. Ore.
3. Letter

I urge you to vote against the rescissions package now under Senate review, which would claw back $1.1 billion in previously approved federal funding for public media – and to support full public media funding in the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bills. A significant majority of this funding goes directly to local stations. Rescinding these funds would derail both current and future efforts to strengthen public safety, expand educational opportunity, support economic development, and improve overall community well-being. Public media represents one of the nation’s most efficient public-private partnerships: for every federal dollar, stations raise about seven more. Rescinding this support would do real and lasting damage – and in communities where public media is the only local media source, it could eliminate that lifeline altogether. Stations serving rural, remote, and tribal areas often rely on this support for more than half of their operating budgets. Without it, they could be forced off air, cutting off entire communities from essential services. It just can’t happen. Thank you for your time and consideration. I work in public education in a rural area. I am on the ground seeing the need for programs and will see the impacts of these cuts. These cuts cannot happen.