Klobuchar says rural radio stations would go under due to GOP cuts

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on Wednesday that rural radio stations in her home state could go out of business due to a rescissions package moving through Congress seeking to cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

“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.