Alaska legislators urge US senators to protect funding for public broadcasting, as bill advances

23 legislators signed a letter opposing the cuts, citing Alaska public media stations as essential for news, public safety and emergency alerts

Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan are considering a bill that would rescind funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. (Alaska Beacon file photos)

A group of 23 Alaska state legislators sent a letter to U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both R-Alaska, on Tuesday urging them to oppose cuts to public broadcasting in a rescission package before the U.S. Senate this week.

The legislators sent the letter hours before the Senate voted to advance the package forward, with Murkowski voting against it and Sullivan voting for it. Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie to bring the bill forward. A final vote is expected by Friday.

The Republican-led U.S. House voted in June to claw back $9.4 billion in federal funding, with U.S. Rep Nick Begich, R-Alaska, voting for the proposal. The cuts include $1.1 billion for public broadcasting, with more than $20 million in funding for Alaska public radio and television stations. 

The Senate has until Friday to vote on whether to approve or reject the funding reduction, in the rescission package, H.R. 4 — the Rescission Act of 2025. It also includes billions in funding for foreign aid. Congress previously had approved the funding, which covers public broadcasting from October 2025 through September 2027.

The group of state senators and representatives who wrote the letter included 17 Democrats, four independents and two Republicans from across the state. 

“Given that Alaska is a vast and rural state, public broadcasting is integral for the health, safety, and well-being of Alaskans,” they said.  

“In rural areas with limited to no internet access, public broadcasting provides important information during emergencies and natural disasters to help keep Alaskans safe, as well as providing important community information and connection across our state. Public broadcasting also keeps Alaskans connected to their Legislature through programing on Gavel Alaska.”

The letter highlighted the ongoing political debate between Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the state Legislature, with Dunleavy vetoing state funding for public broadcasting out of the state budget since 2019. 

“That political reality, combined with our current financial shortfalls, mean that the State of Alaska will be unable to backfill the money from federal public broadcasting cuts,” they said. 

While the House proposed $1.2 million for public broadcasting this year, the Senate removed the money. That meant that the Legislature did not include money for public broadcasting in the budget for the first time since Dunleavy became governor, after he vetoed the funding in the previous five budgets.

Legislators said withholding the funding will have minimal effect on the federal deficit, pointing out the bill — with most of the changes to foreign aid — represents 0.13% of the nearly $7 trillion federal operating budget. “While we understand the importance of fiscal responsibility and addressing the federal deficit, these cuts will do more harm than good for public safety and well-being in Alaska.”

Murkowski has been a vocal supporter of public broadcasting, and has promised to do everything she can do to protect the funding. The senator declined to comment or respond to the legislators’ letter through a spokesperson on Tuesday. 

Murkowski spoke on the Senate floor against the bill on Tuesday. “If you don’t like what’s going on within NPR, you think that there’s too much bias there, we can address that,” she said. “But you don’t need to gut the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity – the program that provides for so much support, particularly for those in rural places.”

Sullivan has also supported public broadcasting funding, but has also joined congressional Republicans in criticizing National Public Radio as being left-leaning and ideologically biased.

Sullivan spokesperson Amanda Coyne said by email Tuesday evening that the senator had warned public media, including NPR, that “their biased programming and reporting, funded in part by the American taxpayer, would eventually jeopardize federal support for both national and local radio stations,” she said. “For years Senator Sullivan has been an advocate for funding for our rural stations, and has been working for the last number of weeks with his Senate colleagues and senior White House officials on alternative sources of funding to help keep rural radio stations on the air.”

President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold his support or endorsement for any Republican that does not support the rescission package. 

The Senate voted to begin considering the rescission package on Tuesday. It is set to debate and vote on amendments on Wednesday. A final vote could be as soon as Wednesday.

Alaska public media stations have been sounding the alarm on the proposed cuts, especially in rural Alaska, as some stations receive up to 70% of their funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the federal funding agency targeted by the rescission vote. 

Station managers from Kotzebue to Dutch Harbor to Juneau have said that cuts would be devastating, and result in immediate cuts to programs, services and staff layoffs. 

Kristin Hall, interim general manager of Bethel-based KYUK, was among them.

“If Congress decides to defund public media or if these actions dismantle the public media system, KYUK could be forced off-air entirely,” Hall said in a statement. “Leaving our communities without access to free, independent, and reliable information and critical weather, river, and emergency updates. For our station, and for the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, this is not just a line item in a budget. It’s our livelihood.”

• Corinne Smith started reporting in Alaska in 2020, serving as a radio reporter for several local stations across the state including in Petersburg, Haines, Homer and Dillingham. She spent two summers covering the Bristol Bay fishing season. Originally from Oakland, California, she got her start as a reporter, then morning show producer, at KPFA Radio in Berkeley. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.