In Washington, D.C., the future of public media funding was the topic of conversation Tuesday morning. HPR News Director Bill Dorman monitored the House Rules Committee hearing and shared some key moments.
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HPR'S BILL DORMAN: When you think about passionate arguments on Capitol Hill, you probably don't think of the House Rules Committee. But that was the location of a pretty fiery session this morning on this bill to rescind nearly $10 billion of federal funding that's been passed by Congress. ... And that includes a little more than a billion dollars which funds the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and that would basically shut it down, and connect to HPR as well, in terms of impact. Most of this funding is connected to international aid programs of various kinds, in terms of the rescission hearing itself, and including medical aid, but a lot of today's session focused on the politics of government spending more broadly. That was a starting point for Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, a Republican of North Carolina.
VIRGINIA FOXX, SOUNDBITE: This is an exercise in restoring fiscal sanity that was torched by the Biden-Harris administration. Republicans have our attention affixed to eliminating the rot of wasteful programs that have been allowed to fester for entirely too long. In contrast, our Democrat colleagues simply cannot prove to the American people that they are in favor of eliminating a single federal program, outlay, or tranche of taxpayer money otherwise.
DORMAN: And for Democrats, there was a lot of talk about Elon Musk, DOGE, using a power saw instead of a scalpel to look at budget cuts with government spending. Here's ranking member Jim McGovern. He's a Democrat of Massachusetts.
JIM MCGOVERN, SOUNDBITE: This is literally nuts. America knows it, and Republicans know it. What's disgraceful is so many of them are willing to go along to get along. America is better than this. We ought to lead with strength, not stupidity. Let's look for smart ways to cut government funding. Let's come together and find strategic ways to reduce spending, to cut back on waste, to go after fraud. But let's not pretend that that's what this bill does. This is a scam. It's a con job. And I urge my colleagues to vote no on this insane, disgraceful DOGE disaster.
DORMAN: ... There was one very interesting and instructive exchange between Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado, he's a Democrat, and as the witness, Congressman Robert Aderholt of Alabama, he's a Republican on the Appropriations Committee, and this zeroed in on public broadcasting and the theme that many lawmakers of both parties actually appreciate the work their local stations do. ... You heard all of these lawmakers speaking up, "Oh, my state too. My state, too." And really pointing out, it's interesting, there's a caucus about public broadcasting on the Hill, and it includes some Republicans who are speaking in favor of public broadcasting, but they're also saying that they may vote with the president on this to rescind the money — so despite their feelings about public broadcasting. We'll see where this goes in terms of that exchange, if that goes anywhere with coming up with some sort of discussion before the floor vote. ... So far, no scheduling of a floor vote on the House. That ultimately is where this is going to go. And we'll be keeping an eye on it.
This story aired on The Conversation on June 10, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
