-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I thank Senator Durbin for bringing us together, and I rise today in strong opposition to this request that Congress take away funding that has already passed on a bipartisan basis--Democrats and Republicans working together, House and Senate.

This proposal would gut already designated funding for public broadcasting and slash critical international aid funding, programs that have long had bipartisan support.

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 lifesaving emergency alerts.

I can't tell you how many times, in some of the most remote areas of my State, in that tip of Minnesota--I was just listening to the public radio station up there--they will inform you of what is happening with wildfires in Canada, because they wouldn't really care about that in certain parts of the country, even in certain parts of my own State. But it matters to people for emergency reasons. Or the flooding of roads matters to them. They don't even know if they can get from one place to another. We have had sudden incidences, even in those remote areas, where it is the source of news.

Access to this programming is important to people in urban, suburban, and rural areas alike. 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 loved the map that Senator Cantwell showed us because it showed how these stations are distributed across the Nation, in what we might call the reddest of States, in the most rural areas. I would argue that, in some of those rural areas, they are the most important.

And yet they are trying to undo this critical funding--but not all of them. I understand that people are working together on this, and I think we must continue the 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 ``A Prairie Home Companion,'' which many have heard of, to ``Marketplace,'' which came out of local stations out of Minnesota.

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.

And we can't forget the impact on kids. When kids are exposed to so much bad stuff on the internet--PBS Kids: 15 million monthly viewers. They don't have those kinds of bad ads that pop up that they see or the bad links that they see. They see things that are suitable for kids, and parents know it.

All across the country, in times of crisis, public radio is essential to public safety. The Florida Public Radio Emergency Network provides geotargeted information with live forecasts, evacuation routes, and shelter details.

Alabama Public TV serves as the emergency alert station hub for the State, broadcasting signals to all radio and TV broadcasters throughout the State, as well as is the primary outlet for AMBER Alerts for missing kids.

Twin Cities PBS launched the Nation's first 24/7 TV channel broadcasting realtime 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 is NPR that continues to report on State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, whom I got to talk with yesterday, about their recovery, even when the national attention has moved on. That is what local public TV and local radio do for us.

This request, of course, would also deepen the damage when it comes to foreign aid. The President would impose major cuts to PEPFAR, the program that began under President George W. Bush, supported by so many Republicans in this Chamber, to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS. This has bipartisan support. It is credited with saving over 25 million lives.

The rescission would also weaken our other global health efforts, whether it is Ebola or malaria or bird flu. We know so many of these start in different places. And we can't just bury our heads in the sand. We actually need to take them on where they are because you just can't hope that no one is going to come knocking at your door--because it does, and it comes in the form of a very dangerous disease, or to your constituents who are stranded over in another place.

Or the need to help other countries so you increase your own national security--we know that very much in Minnesota, with our Somalian population and what they have faced in Somalia.

We know that when it comes to other countries that actually come up through all of it and are some of our best trading partners.

The President's proposed cuts to funding for UNICEF are also misguided. We should be at the forefront of supporting bright futures for kids.

This is about leadership. It is about national security. It is about building trading partners that are so important for us in the Midwest with our farmers. It is about the USAID Food for Peace Program. Minnesota farmers and ag businesses sold a total of $70 million to that program in 2024 alone. When America shares its bounty with the world and we do it in a smart and targeted way, we benefit.

Hacking away at public broadcasting and public radio is not just shortsighted; it is dangerous. And the same for the foreign aid. These investments are a small cost compared to what we get out of them.

We have made a decision--a Democratic Senate at the time, a Republican House at the time, together--on how we want to spend our funding. This is on us to stand up for, yes, the separation of powers but to stand up for the people in our community. I hope we can do it on a bipartisan basis.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source