1. United States
2. Minn.
3. Letter

Congress is expected to vote as early as today or tomorrow on a proposal to rescind federal funding for public media that was approved by Congress two years ago. If passed, this vote would eliminate essential funding that powers important local reporting, emergency communications, and public service programming. In rural areas especially, where information can be hard to access and conditions can change fast, this kind of programming is not just nice. It literally saves lives. Public media receives less than 0.01% of the federal budget, which breaks down to $1.60 per taxpayer. There are countless budgetary items that eat more funds than that and do not return anywhere near as many benefits. Please oppose rescission and protect funding for local public media.