WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 2, 2025 – Kate Riley, President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, made the following statement on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies’ action today that fails to restore essential funding for local public broadcasting stations across America in its fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bill.
“America’s Public Television Stations are deeply disappointed that the House Appropriations Labor-H Subcommittee did not include essential funding for local public television stations today in their FY 2026 appropriations bill.
“As drafted, the House Appropriations Labor-H Subcommittee Appropriations Bill misses an opportunity to extend a desperately needed lifeline to local public media stations that are devastated by the rescissions of public media funding earlier this summer.
“Local stations have already begun cutting essential local programming and services and laying off local staff that support critical community activities across the country. Some stations are even cutting broadcast hours and looking at other desperate measures to stave off closures which threaten many stations, especially those serving rural and remote communities.
“Local public broadcasting stations are facing an existential crisis brought on by the rescission this summer. But Congress can mitigate the devastation being levied on local communities. Providing funding for local stations would save some of the nation’s last local broadcasters and the essential public safety and education services they provide and the community connections they foster.
“As this bill moves to the full House Appropriations Committee, we urge the Committee to restore critical funding for local public broadcasting stations and the essential public services they provide.
“The end of federal funding for local public media stations threatens the distribution of lifesaving public safety communications, ranging from early earthquake warnings to Amber Alerts to presidential messages to the American people in times of national emergency, in partnership with federal, state and local authorities. Only local public television stations have a nationwide broadcast infrastructure — reaching 97% of all Americans — that serves as a pathway for distribution of Wireless Emergency Alerts, enables us to provide the only nationwide situational awareness tool used by public safety officials to track and monitor the effectiveness of those alerts, and allows us to partner with first responders on public safety initiatives from Florida to Alaska, helping keep Americans safe every day.
“The end of federal funding for local public media stations disrupts critical local educational services for the more than half of America’s children who do not attend preschool. These are local services that American families rely upon every day for free. In fact, according to a recent YouGov survey, 82% of voters, including 72% of Trump voters, said they valued PBS for its children’s programming and educational tools.
“The end of federal funding for local public media stations hampers the ability of local public television stations to tell the story of hometown heroes and local history through thousands of hours of locally produced documentary and public affairs programming, while connecting communities to address present day issues and charting a course for a bright future.
“We urge the U.S. House Appropriations Committee to respect the clear will of the American people and restore essential funding for local public media stations in the FY 26 appropriations bill that will support local stations’ ability to help keep Americans safe, to educate America’s children and to celebrate and preserve the stories, people and culture of hometowns across this country.”
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and community connections to their local areas and the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org