07/09/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/09/2025 19:56
WATCH KLOBUCHAR'S FULL REMARKS HERE
WASHINGTON - On the Senate Floor, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) spoke in opposition to the Administration's attempt to clawback funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and foreign aid that Congress had already approved on a bipartisan basis.
"As the daughter of a newspaperman, I know how important public media and the free press are to our country. Public Broadcasting reaches nearly 99 percent of Americans. 99 percent with programming they don't have to pay for delivering educational programming for our kids, coverage of local news stories and life saving emergency alerts …
We have long agreed on a bipartisan basis to support the more than 1,500 local and regional public TV and radio stations throughout the country…I think we must continue this support.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting supports public TV stations in my state, in places like Duluth and Granite Falls and Austin, and supports 16 public radio stations across our state, like the ones in Grand Rapids, in Bemidji, and in Brainerd. We have a long history of producing public programming that is quite outstanding in our state… from Prairie Home Companion …to Marketplace.
Public Media in Minnesota has also created amazing original TV series like the ones to inspire more young people to enter STEM fields and spotlighting our artists and our local chefs…
Twin Cities PBS launched the nation's first 24/7 TV channel broadcasting real time emergency alerts. And recently, in the wake of the horrific shooting of the state lawmakers in the state, when portions of our state were in shelter in place, when a madman was out loose, Minnesota Public Radio kept people informed around the clock, about how to stay safe, about where the shelter in place areas were, and what was happening with the manhunt. It's MPR that continues to report on State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who I got to talk with yesterday about their recovery, even when the national attention has moved on. That's what local public TV and local radio do for us."
Download Klobuchar's full floor speech here.
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