Early this morning, Republicans in the US Senate voted to approve federal spending cuts to public broadcasting that are poised to cut US$1.1 billion that had already been earmarked for services including PBS KIDS. 

Formally requested by US President Donald Trump, this defunding affects a broader US$9-billion spending package, which also includes funds dedicated to global health initiatives and other programs. The legislation has now been sent back to the House of Representatives, and it will need to be approved again by another group of lawmakers and then signed into law by the president by Friday at midnight—although the House already voted last month to cut the funding, so it’s pretty much guaranteed to happen.

Once it does, the US$1.1 billion that had already been allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which funds PBS and NPR) for the next two years will be stripped away. Today’s 51-48 vote followed more than 12 hours of amendment debate. All Senate Democrats voted against the measure, along with two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine). 

The Senate approval ultimately “goes against the will of the American people, the vast majority of whom trust PBS and believe it provides excellent value to their communities,” said PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger today in a statement. 

Only around 15% of PBS’s annual budget stems from federal funding, but these cuts would have a large impact on local stations, which primarily benefit from this source of capital. 

“These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas,” Kerger said. “Many of our stations that provide access to free and unique local programming and emergency alerts will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead.” 

The push to defund public media in the US is the result of the Trump administration’s heightened scrutiny of perceived left-leaning bias in content and coverage from NPR and PBS. Before the vote, Senator Eric Schmitt (Missouri) argued that the pubcasters have “drifted far from their original mission, and now serve as megaphones for partisan left-wing activism.” Kids content has not escaped this pushback. Georgia’s right-wing representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, for instance, confronted PBS back in March to criticize the appearance of a drag queen on WNET Group’s YouTube series Let’s Learn.

For its part, PBS says it isn’t giving up. “There is nothing more American than PBS,” Kerger added in her statement. “Despite today’s setback, we are determined to keep fighting to preserve the essential services we provide to the American public.”