After House passes public broadcasting cuts, Lakeshore Public Media focuses on Senate
Public broadcasting platforms, like Lakeshore Public Media, are looking to the Senate 'as the last hope' to save federal funding, said CEO Chuck Roberts.
The U.S. House voted Thursday to cut about $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress targeting foreign aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. The vote was 214-212.
Specifically, the bill includes cutting nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which also provides funding for thousands of public radio and television stations around the country. If the Senate approves the cut, that would take away the full amount CPB was slated to receive during the next two budget years.
The benefit for President Donald Trump's administration of a formal rescissions request is that the passage requires only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate instead of the 60 votes usually required to get spending bills through that chamber. So if they stay largely united, Republicans will be able to pass the measure without any Democratic votes.
Leah Selk, a spokeswoman with Republican Senator Todd Young's office said the senator 'continues to have conversations with stakeholders' about the proposed cuts.
'It remains unclear if the Senate will take up the House-passed bill or go a different route,' Selk said.
Senator Jim Banks did not respond to requests for comment.
Roberts said the proposed budget cuts present 'very tenuous times' for Lakeshore Public Media.
'Not only for the organization that is Lakeshore Public Media, but also the many people that will lose the needed services and content across Northwest Indiana and our friends in Illinois, due to state and federal funding cuts,' Roberts said.
In the final hours of the 2025 session, the Indiana legislature passed a biennial budget that cuts funding to all Indiana PBS and NPR stations, Roberts said. Lakeshore Public Media will lose approximately $380,000 per year of the biennial budget, he said, which represents nearly 30% of its annual budget.
If the federal funds are cut, Roberts said Lakeshore Public Media will lose another approximately $560,000, or another 30% of its annual budget, Roberts said.
Lakeshore Public Media has already laid off two-thirds of its staff amid the cuts, Roberts said.
'With the state funding cuts, you will see a reduction in the production of local content and the jobs of some awesome people telling the stories of Northwest Indiana. Federal cuts will have even further consequences for public media in our neighborhoods,' Roberts said.
Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations, which represents the state's 17 PBS and NPR member stations, has been 'closely monitoring' the decisions made in Washington, said IPBS executive director Mark Newman.
'Our focus now shifts to the Senate, where we will continue to work with our partners and policymakers to emphasize the value of this essential public service,' Newman said.
Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations offer news, classroom-ready education content, emergency alerts and cultural programming, Newman said. If the federal cuts are implemented, that would impact support to local station operations, especially in rural and underserved communities, he said.
'Federal support makes it possible for stations to extend their reach, deepen their journalism, and build programs that reflect the people and stories of Indiana,' Newman said. 'We will continue engaging with stakeholders at every level to ensure the critical role of public media is understood and preserved.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Urges SALT Deal as Lawler Stands Firm on $40,000 Cap
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump expressed optimism that lawmakers could reach a compromise on the state and local tax deduction — a sticking point in his 'One Big Beautiful Bill' — even as a key SALT advocate insisted a deal had already been reached. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads How E-Scooters Conquered (Most of) Europe Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown Trump said Wednesday that resolving the contentious debate over the SALT cap is imperative to passing his multitrillion dollar tax bill. 'It's very difficult, and I understand both sides, but we'll just have to see, hopefully a compromise or something's going to be made,' Trump told reporters at the White House. New York Representative Mike Lawler — one of the House's most vocal supporters of the SALT deduction — said earlier Wednesday he is open to negotiating with the Senate to advance the tax bill, but insisted he would not agree to lower the $40,000 SALT cap deal reached in the House. 'We negotiated,' Lawler said Wednesday in an interview with Fox Business of the House version of the bill. 'That's the deal.' The SALT deduction has been a primary sticking point holding up Trump's legislative agenda. Lawler, one of a handful of Republicans representing districts in high tax states, previously called the Senate version of the tax bill 'dead on arrival' because of its $10,000 cap on SALT. Senate leaders have characterized that figure as a placeholder while negotiations have continued, but have also said there is no desire among Republicans in their chamber to keep the cap at $40,000. GOP Senators are considering a $30,000 cap on SALT as a compromise between the $10,000 currently allowed and the more generous limit in the House tax bill. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is scheduled to meet with Senate Republicans on Wednesday to discuss the tax bill, according to a person familiar with the planning. Vice President JD Vance met with senators on Tuesday to urge them to support the legislation. The House and Senate have to agree on a plan before it can go to Trump's desk to become law, giving Lawler and his SALT-focused colleagues leverage to demand their concerns be addressed. Trump warned that making SALT a 'red line' would mean a tax increase. The bill renews many of his first-term tax cuts on households and small businesses, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Instead of agreeing that the SALT cap could be lowered, Lawler listed off costly items in the bill, including the child tax credit and cutting taxes on tips and overtime, that could be negotiated. 'We're not giving you the full boat,' Lawler said. 'I have negotiated in good faith from day one, and I am still willing to work with my colleagues to get this done, but we are not going to be fleeced in New York.' There are other variables that could be negotiated besides the cap amount, including length of time it is in place and the phase out for higher income taxpayers. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Republican colleagues in the chamber for seeking to minimize the SALT deduction, calling that move a 'a dagger aimed at the heart of blue states.' —With assistance from Erik Wasson and Cam Kettles. (Adds Wiles plan to meet with senators on Wednesday) Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Coinbase Global Stock Leads S&P 500 Gainers as Senate Passes Stablecoin Bill
Shares of Coinbase Global (COIN) surged 11% to lead S&P 500 gainers Wednesday afternoon, a day after the Senate passed the GENIUS Act to set up federal boundaries for the use of stablecoins. The legislation would open the door for use of stablecoins—cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to another currency or financial asset such as the U.S. dollar—by banks, fintech firms, retailers, and others. It was the first major legislation approved by Congress dealing with the digital currency industry. Shares of USDC stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group (CRCL) also soared on the news, jumping 20% in recent trading. The bill now moves on to the House, which has its own version of stablecoin legislation called the STABLE Act, which has some differences from the GENIUS Act. Coinbase shares were up just over 2% this year entering Wednesday's session. Read the original article on Investopedia Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
19 minutes ago
Civil rights agency's acting chief to face questions on anti-DEI, transgender stances
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The acting chief of the country's top agency for enforcing worker rights will face questions at a Senate committee hearing Wednesday over her efforts to prioritize anti-diversity investigations while sidelining certain racial and gender discrimination cases and quashing protections for transgender workers. Andrea Lucas, who was first appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2020 and elevated to acting chief in January, is one of four Labor Department nominees to appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Her nomination to serve another five-year term as an EEOC commissioner requires Senate confirmation, though whether she stays on as chief will be up to President Donald Trump. Lucas, an outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion practices and promoter of the idea that there are only two immutable sexes, has moved swiftly to enact Trump's civil rights agenda after he abruptly fired two of the EEOC's Democratic commissioners before the end of their five-year terms, an unprecedented move in the agency's 60-year history that has been challenged in a lawsuit. Lucas is prioritizing worker rights that conservatives argue have been ignored by the EEOC. That includes investigating company DEI practices, defending the rights of women to same-sex spaces and fighting anti-Christian bias in the workplace. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate committee holding the hearing, has championed many of those causes. He accused the EEOC under the Biden administration of 'injecting its far-left" agenda into the workplace, including by updating sexual harassment guidelines to warn against misgendering transgender workers and including abortion as a pregnancy-related condition under regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Democrats on the committee are likely to grill Lucas over criticism that she overstepped her authority by profoundly shifting the EEOC's direction to the whims of the president in the absence of a quorum, which commission has lacked since Trump fired the two commissioners. Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the committee, said she will oppose any EEOC nominations unless Trump reinstates the two fired Democratic commissioners, which she and more than 200 other Democratic senators and Congress members condemned in a letter to the president as an abuse of power. 'President Trump is weaponizing the independent EEOC to serve his personal political agenda, firing commissioners without cause and warping the mission of the EEOC beyond recognition,' Murray said in a statement ahead of the hearing. 'Commissioner Lucas is a right-wing extremist who has been in lockstep behind Trump's pro-discrimination agenda.' Lucas has made clear her views of the limitations of the EEOC's autonomy. In a recent memo to employers, Lucas declared that the 'EEOC is an executive branch agency, not an independent agency" that will "fully and robustly comply" with all executive orders. That includes two orders that Trump signed in January: one directing federal agencies to eliminate their own DEI activities and end any 'equity-related' grants or contracts, and the other imposing a certification provision on all companies and institutions with government contracts or grant dollars to demonstrate that they don't operate DEI programs. The EEOC's new approach alarmed more than 30 civil rights groups, which sent a letter to the Senate committee demanding that Lucas face a hearing. The groups argued that the EEOC was created by Congress under 1964 Civil Rights Act to be a bipartisan agency that would function independently from the executive branch. The EEOC, the only federal agency empowered to investigate employment discrimination in the private sector, received more than 88,000 charges of workplace discrimination in fiscal year 2024. Its commissioners are appointed by the president to staggered terms, and no more than three can be from the same party. Much of the EEOC's authority is granted by Congress, including the obligation to investigate all complaints and enact regulations for implementing some laws. Under Lucas, the EEOC dropped seven of its own lawsuits on behalf of transgender or nonbinary workers. It also moved to drop a racial discrimination case on behalf of Black, Native American and multiracial job applicants after Trump ordered federal agencies to stop pursuing discrimination that falls under 'disparate impact liability,' which aims to identify practices that systematically exclude certain demographic groups. Instead, Lucas has turned the EEOC's attention to investigating company DEI practices. In her most high profile move, she sent letters to 20 law firms demanding information about diversity fellowships and other programs she claimed could be evidence of discriminatory practices. Lucas has also repeatedly encouraged workers nationwide to come forward with DEI complaints. She launched a hotline for whistleblowers and said workers should be encouraged to report bad DEI practices after a Supreme Court decision made it easier for white and other non-minority workers to bring reverse-discrimination lawsuits.
