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⏰ T-minus nine days

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Senate has nine days to either approve or reject President Trump's rescissions package, which means PBS and NPR have nine days left to await their federal funding fate. There is a very interesting new wrinkle regarding NPR that I'll explain in just a moment.

But first: CNN's Capitol Hill team reports that the package "faces potential obstacles ahead." Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he expects the so-called "DOGE cuts" to be voted out of the appropriations committee and "hit the floor next week," but Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins says she believes the package "needs some significant changes," i.e., amendments.

Reminder: If the so-called "DOGE cuts" don't pass the Senate by Friday, July 18, the rescission effort fails and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting keeps the $1.1 billion that Congress already allocated for the next two years. 

NPR in the crosshairs

Collins is very worried about the rescission package's cuts to the global program to fight AIDS, known as PEPFAR. And she is also concerned about the cuts to public media — well, most of the cuts. She recently told Maine Public, her state's PBS and NPR network, that "she wants to preserve funding approved for public television and public radio stations, like Maine Public's."

But Collins has a problem with NPR at the national level, where shows like "All Things Considered" come from.

Collins brought up alleged bias at NPR during an appropriations hearing last month. After praising Maine-centric content like a "locally produced high school quiz show" and national TV shows like "Antiques Roadshow," she said, "I understand, however, the concern about subsidizing the national radio news programming that for years has had a discernibly partisan bent."

Close observers have noticed this dynamic — more GOP antipathy toward NPR than PBS — during the months-long funding fights. Some of it stems from NPR CEO Katherine Maher's past criticism of Trump, which she expressed years before being hired to run NPR. Collins told Maine Public that Maher's past comments were "very troubling."

(For Maher's part, she told Kara Swisher on a podcast that "whatever my personal views are, they don't enter into my work. My work is really around achieving our mission," growing NPR's trust and reach.)

Collins appears to be circling an amendment that would strip NPR HQ of its funding — she told Maine Public the amount is just $4 million — while preserving the rest of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's budget. Arguably, that's exactly the type of political meddling that public media is supposed to be insulated against. 

Other amendments are possible. Mike Rounds of South Dakota told CNN yesterday that he wants to ensure protections for "the radio stations in some of the rural areas that provide emergency services," a message that may stand out in the wake of the Texas flood catastrophe.

To be sure, though, many GOP senators are eager to vote yes and zero out all the NPR and PBS funding. Only one, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, is on the record opposing the elimination of all the funding. In a 53-47 Senate, public media loses.

Thune noted that the rescissions package is "subject to amendment... so, we'll see where it goes." If amended by the Senate, it has to go back to the House and pass again before July 18, thus public media advocates are left to hope that time will simply run out.

 >> An NPR rep declined to comment on the amendment speculation.

 >> ICYMI: PBS rallied support from viewers during the network's high-rated July 4 special last week with a 30-second spot that said "there's nothing more American than PBS."

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