Nebraska's Ricketts, Fischer voted to cut $9B from public media, foreign aid

[Omaha Steve]

Ricketts is up for re-election NEXT YEAR!

A victory for Trump; a loss for local NPR stations, including Nebraska Public Media
By: Juan Salinas II - July 17, 2025 1:32 pm

LINCOLN — Nebraska Public Media will lose federal funding it says makes up 16% of its annual budget, as both of the station’s home-state U.S. senators voted overnight to cut $9 billion that the federal government had previously approved for international aid and public media.

The 51-48 mostly party-line vote seeks to revoke more than $8 billion from foreign aid programs run by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. It also cuts $1.1 billion that Congress approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, which funds the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio.

A carve-out deal negotiated by some senators will preserve funding for grants to help some Native American radio stations. And the package was changed to preserve full funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Those tweaks will require a separate vote in the U.S. House, which narrowly passed the bill before and is likely to do so again.

Trump is on the cusp of following through on a long-sought GOP goal – stripping federal funding from NPR and PBS. The push is a continuation of his ongoing political battle with news organizations. During his second term, Trump has barred the Associated Press from entering some White House events and sued CBS News over its editing of an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.

FULL story: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/07/17/nebraskas-ricketts-fischer-voted-to-cut-9b-funding-cuts-from-public-media-foreign-aid/


National Public Radio headquarters on North Capitol Street in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Photo by Jacob Fischler/States Newsroom)