After the Senate passed the historic $9 billion Trump Rescissions Act without her support early Thursday morning, US Sen.Lisa Murkowski is once again voicing her opposition — this time with a published statement that has a narrow focus on the cuts to Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is the parent funder of NPR and PBS.
The Alaska Republican had previously criticized the sweeping package before the vote, citing concerns about various foreign aid cuts and her concern about a lack of transparency, as well as public broadcasting.
But in her latest remarks issued after the wee-hours passage of the rescissions act, Murkowski’s emphasis landed squarely on the threat to public broadcasting, a government-subsidized institution that has reliably supported her throughout her long political career, and to whom she has returned the favor.
“I voted against approving this rescissions package for three key reasons,” Murkowski said in a lengthy statement released Thursday. The senator noted concerns about vague budget impacts and executive overreach, but devoted the bulk of her public comments to the risks facing NPR and local radio stations.
“My colleagues are targeting NPR but will wind up hurting – and, over time, closing down – local radio stations that provide essential news, alerts, and educational programming in Alaska and across the country,” Murkowski said, referring to a 7.3 magnitude earthquake and tsunami warning in southwestern Alaska as an example of public broadcasting’s role.
She did not acknowledge that most people in the 21st century get emergency messages from official agencies directly on their phones and that commercial radio stations also broadcast them. Even vagrants living on the streets have smart phones in this era, and alerts are issued without an intermediary radio signal.
Alaska has about 27 public broadcasting radio stations. That’s one for every 27,000 Alaskans. To compare, Florida has 24 public broadcasting radio stations, or one for every one million Floridians.
The rescissions package, backed by the Trump White House and Republican leadership, claws back unspent federal funds from a variety of programs, including foreign aid initiatives, clean technology subsidies, and taxpayer dollars earmarked for public broadcasting. The bill passed 51-48 without the need for Vice President JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Murkowski’s latest statement reveals a narrowing political focus. Though she previously raised alarm about cuts to international health programs, her post-vote comments failed to mention foreign aid, instead doubling down on defending public broadcasting, an issue of outsized importance to the senator’s political brand in Alaska.
During the vote, Murkowski unsuccessfully attempted to add an amendment to protect the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “Disappointingly, it failed,” she said, while she threw shade on her two Alaska congressional colleagues, Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Nick Begich.
She may have spent all her political capital opposing her Republican team in the Senate.
Supporters of the rescissions package, which is part of the Department of Government Efficiency efforts to trim spending, argue it represents long-overdue fiscal discipline, targeting wasteful spending and reducing federal deficits.
With her third Senate term up for reelection in 2028, Murkowski’s outspoken defense of public broadcasting reiterates her willingness to break with her party at any time. She has hinted to the media several times that she may end her relationship with the Republican Party altogether.
