WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) issued the following statement after voting no on the President’s proposed package that slashes more than $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – jeopardizing over 1,500 locally owned public television and radio stations across the country.
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"With this vote, House Republicans have officially abdicated Congress's constitutional duty to appropriate federal dollars, effectively surrendering that authority to the Executive Branch. Let’s be clear: the funding they just voted to slash was passed with bipartisan support and signed into law. Walking away from those commitments isn’t just irresponsible — it’s reckless. These cuts jeopardize local public broadcasting, strip access to critical healthcare, gut lifesaving emergency programs, and undermine our support for global allies. It doesn’t make us stronger — it makes us weaker.”
In addition to gutting funding for public broadcasting, the package would:
- Eliminate all civilian funding for Ukraine and U.S. partners in Eastern Europe and Central Asia – crippling efforts to counter Russian aggression.
- Deny access to contraception and family planning services for more than 24 million women worldwide.
- Rescind over $2.5 billion in development aid, resulting in:
- More than 40 million children losing access to education.
- Over 3.6 million people losing access to clean water.
