Thursday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the Rescissions Act of 2025, a bill that rescinds $1.1 billion in funds previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The bill will now move to the Senate for consideration. The Senate parliamentarian has established July 18, 2025, as the deadline by which the proposal must pass the House and Senate to take effect.
If Senate lawmakers also approve the rescission package, the move would be an unprecedented action against communities that rely on OPB and the entire public media system. It would destabilize the bedrock services that only public media provides, at a time when local journalism across the country is suffering.
While OPB is funded largely through the support of our members, federal support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) plays a critical role in helping OPB provide universal access to factual information— for everyone in our region – never behind a paywall. Federal funding represents around nine percent of OPB’s annual budget, roughly $5 million per year.
Learn more below about why federal funding for public media matters, and what you can do to stand with OPB and public media. You can also download a one-page summary about what’s at stake for OPB and our communities.
Federal funding for public media is under unprecedented threat.
Your contribution now will help sustain OPB’s independent journalism for our community.
What you can do
OPB, our communities, and organizations across the country are standing together to protect public media. Here’s how you can help:
- Reach out to your members of Congress to express your support for public media. Find your members’ contact information here.
- Visit protectmypublicmedia.org to stay informed, sign up for updates and learn how you can take action to support public media.
- Support OPB to help ensure a strong and independent future for our essential service that reaches across the Pacific Northwest and is freely accessible to all. If you’re not an OPB Member, now is the time to join as a Sustainer. If you’re already a Sustainer, increase your monthly contribution. Go to opb.org and click on the “Contribute now” button or call 1-800-245-2346.
- If you’re a local business, now is the time to align your brand with sponsorship at any level. Learn more here.
About federal funding for public media
OPB videographer Stephani Gordon, right, films Jeff Griffin, port manager for the Port of Bandon, during the production of an episode of OPB’s Superabundant, May 11, 2021.
Arya Surowidjojo / OPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private corporation created by Congress through the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. It is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting and the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services in the United States. Its mission is to provide every American with free, over-the-air access to local public media.
CPB’s federal appropriation is modest: roughly one one-hundredth of a percent (0.01%) of the federal budget.
CPB is distinct from NPR and PBS and does not produce programming or own, operate, or manage any public media stations. It distributes more than 70% of its funding to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations.
Federal funding supports essential local journalism, information, and programs – available to everyone, every day, for free, everywhere they are. Rather than going directly to PBS and NPR, the vast majority of CPB funds go to public media organizations across the country, which are some of the few remaining locally-rooted media, particularly in rural, remote, and underserved communities. These organizations then decide how to best serve the public interest with those critical federal funds.
OPB and other public media organizations across the country play a crucial role in the Emergency Alert System (EAS), providing lifesaving public safety communications to the American people in times of national emergency, in partnership with federal, state, and local authorities.
OPB leads Oregon’s emergency alert system. On a voluntary basis, OPB serves as the ‘State Primary’ or ‘Primary Entry Point’ (PEP) station for the Emergency Alert System. Working closely with the state of Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and other emergency responders in the event of a statewide, regional, or national emergency, OPB initiates messages informing other broadcasters (commercial and non-commercial), viewers, and listeners of a wide variety of emergencies.
Cuts to federal funding would hurt smaller, rural communities the most, where local public media stations are often the last locally operated and locally controlled media sources. These communities depend on public media for essential public services, from local journalism, education resources to public safety alerts and community connections.
By statute, CPB prioritizes funding for public media organizations serving rural and remote communities. For some smaller organizations, this support accounts for 30 percent (or more) of revenue. Such cuts would hobble beloved place-based institutions across the country.
Given the troubled state of the journalism ecosystem today, federal cuts would also accelerate the growth of news deserts. Nationally, and in Oregon, many news outlets have been decimated by cuts or have disappeared entirely. Others have survived through subscription models that limit information to only those who can afford it.
At OPB, federal support represents around nine percent of our operating budget. Our work is primarily funded by members, foundations, and sponsors based in Oregon and southwest Washington.
While OPB is funded largely through the generous support of our members, the funds we receive through CPB are an important part of our operating budget. Loss of federal funding would hinder our work, especially in serving a vast region across Oregon and Washington with journalism and programs that are freely accessible to all.
What federal funding makes possible
For more than 100 years, OPB has provided an essential, accessible, and free public service to communities across the Northwest. OPB is a bridge connecting communities large and small, both urban and rural. Federal funding helps us deliver news, information and inspiring programs to the wider region. Here’s what it makes possible:
Free, accessible news, information and programs
OPB’s reporting is available free of charge to everyone in our region—never behind a paywall. As the region’s largest, most accessible source of trusted news, we’re committed to providing essential information to everyone in Oregon and the wider Northwest.
Strong local journalism ecosystem
People living in the Pacific Northwest deserve a healthy media ecosystem, and OPB’s work through partnerships aims to maintain that health well into the future. We provide our stories to news organizations free of charge and share partner stories via our website, radio service, and email newsletters—helping connect you with important stories wherever you get your news.
For more information about our editorial partnerships in the region, visit opb.org/partnerships.
Partners include:
- Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)
- The Daily Astorian
- The Herald and News (Klamath Falls)
- KWSO-FM (Warm Springs)
- Jefferson Public Radio (Ashland, OR)
- The Columbian (Vancouver, WA)
Access in all corners of the region
People across the Northwest can access OPB’s journalism and programs wherever they are, at any time. We see more than three million engagements per month across all OPB’s platforms. That includes nearly 800,000 people watching OPB TV, more than 750,000 reading OPB.org and nearly 700,000 listening on OPB radio and audio streams. Federal funding helps support this work and the team of journalists, editors and digital staff who report and deliver the storytelling that keeps communities connected and informed.
Our broadcast network reaches across 33 Oregon counties and parts of southern Washington through 17 full-service radio stations, five full-service TV stations and smaller translators that rebroadcast our TV signals to areas that can’t get them directly.
Critical emergency alerts
OPB serves as a ‘State Primary’ or ‘Primary Entry Point’ (PEP) station for the Emergency Alert System. Working closely with the state of Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and other emergency responders in the event of statewide, regional, or national emergencies, OPB initiates messages informing other broadcasters, viewers and listeners.
Community impact
OPB’s storytelling is at the heart of our mission to serve and connect communities across the Pacific Northwest. This work has led to government investigations, policy reforms and increased public awareness on issues including foster care, groundwater safety and the cultural legacy of salmon. Learn more about how we’ve put our values into action, and how our work has made a difference for communities across the Northwest.
