Big Bird and friends’ final reckoning: Senate to vote on funding cuts to NPR, PBS
Happy Monday! It’s Danielle Battaglia, back with Under the Dome and the latest on President Donald Trump.
This week, everything is not “A-OK” if you’re Big Bird and friends.
As I previously wrote, Trump told Congress to rescind $1 billion in federal funding to PBS and NPR. By law, the Senate has to act on Trump’s request by Friday.
Senators plan to take up a $9.4 billion rescission bill beginning Tuesday, that also includes cutting $8 billion in previously earmarked foreign aid.
Just how bad does Trump want this?
He told us on Truth Social.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recission bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR) ...” Trump wrote. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”
North Carolina is home to 12 PBS television stations and nine NPR stations. Durham’s WUNC and Charlotte’s WFAE are among those stations, where reporters from The News & Observer regularly appear as guests on shows like Due South and Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins.
Sen. Ted Budd, a Republican from Davie County, hasn’t publicly spoken about the bill. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville, has previously said he’s likely to support the bill.
But as we learned in the past month, a lot can change in a matter of days.
Though Trump’s threat doesn’t really impact either senator.
Budd is not up for reelection.
And Tillis has made himself a bit of a free agent by removing himself from a reelection campaign during the One Big Beautiful Bill Act vote. The threat of a primary doesn’t hold the same weight now, though he maintains that he’s still loyal to the president and the party.
As for North Carolina’s 10 House Republicans, they’ve already voted to support the bill.
Assassination attempt
On another note, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Sunday marked the one-year anniversary since a gunman tried to take Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The day of the shooting I was with my family celebrating my sister’s birthday and my parents noted I seemed off throughout dinner. I told them I had this weird intuition something bad was about to happen, and I would be called into work.
I wasn’t home long before it did. My colleague, David Lightman, and I were scheduled to leave the next morning for Wisconsin to cover the Republican National Convention. The shooting changed the entire course of that week and the atmosphere at the event.
I never imagined that I would be covering an attempted assassination of a U.S. president.
Until that moment, I believed that was something that history had taught us to never repeat.
And I hope we never repeat it again.
Other stories we’re working on
- Gov. Josh Stein warned that state officials will have to compensate for the federal funding cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that includes social safety net programs, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan reports.
- Jadyn Watson-Fisher talks to the family of NC State superfan Grayson Ketchie about why potential cuts to Medicaid are “terrifying” to them and why they fear he might lose proper medical care.
- Tillis had his first lengthy interview following his decision to end his reelection campaign and retire from Congress. He appeared on CNN with Jake Tapper and did not hold back his feelings on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s advisers or who he doesn’t want to succeed him. I break down Tapper’s interview with Tillis here.
- Speaking of Tillis, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso announced Tillis is no longer serving as a whip for Republicans. I write about who made that decision and who replaces Tillis.
- Durham resident Neil Jacobs Jr. is Trump’s nominee to lead NOAA. His confirmation hearing came as storms ravaged the U.S. I reported on what he had to say and the direction he wants to take the agency.
- A North Carolina couple feels forgotten after Helene destroyed their home. Josh Shaffer tells their story.
- T. Keung Hui reports on the $168.8 million loss in federal funding that North Carolina public schools expected this year from the Trump administration and the impact of a freeze on the money.. He further reports on how Wake County is handling the cuts.
- The Trump administration decided to cut funding to HIV vaccine research. Brian Gordon explains what that means for the Duke Human Vaccine Institute in Durham and how one scientist is trying to find funding.
- At least six Environmental Protection Agency workers in Research Triangle Park have been put on leave for signing a letter critical of the EPA’s administrator, Gordon reports.
- A federal court said that religious institutions could begin endorsing political candidates without risking their nonprofit status. Abby Pender talks to religious leaders about why that is an added pressure.
That’s it for now.
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And if you have any feedback or tips for this new edition of the newsletter feel free to reach out to Danielle Battaglia directly at dbattaglia@mcclatchydc.com.
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