Nevada public radio stations are bracing for impact after the Senate passed a bill revoking more than $7.5 million in previously approved funding for local public broadcasting. 

The rescissions package revoked $9.4 billion in previously approved funding for a host of spending priorities such as international assistance programs, programs to combat HIV and AIDs and public broadcasting. President Donald Trump issued an executive order ordering the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to halt direct funding to National Public Radio (NPR)  and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and has threatened to withdraw support of any House Republican who did not support the rescissions package.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in a Wednesday interview criticized Republicans for letting the Trump administration take away Congress’ appropriation powers.

“It's not the role of [the] executive branch to do that, but my Republican colleagues are just capitulating and turning over the power of Congress and the power of the purse to this administration,” Cortez Masto said.

The bill passed early Thursday on a 51-48 vote, with two Republicans (Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)) joining Democrats in opposition. 

Trump requested to cancel funding previously approved by Congress on May 28. After the president issues a request, Congress has 45 days to send a rescissions package to the president’s desk; that deadline is Friday. 

On Wednesday, Cortez Masto introduced an amendment to maintain public broadcasting funding, but the amendment failed on a 48-51 vote. 

Public radio stations are “critical for emergency alert programming across the state, particularly in the state now, where we're seeing more extreme weather happening,” Cortez Masto said.

Four Nevada-based outlets have received nearly $3.9 million from this funding in fiscal year 2024.

“The Senate’s passing of the Rescissions Act is a devastating blow to public media nationwide — with serious implications for Nevada Public Radio and for stations across rural and underserved communities that rely on this support to survive,” said Nevada Public Radio President Favian Perez in an emailed statement to The Nevada Independent.

KUNR Public Radio, a Reno-based station under NPR, received $267,000 from one of three federal grants, and the CPB supports 15 percent of KUNR’s total budget. 

Last week, KUNR played a critical role in disseminating evacuation orders for the Ironwood Fire, said station General Manager Brian Duggan. 

“Our ability to maintain the level of staffing that we have is under threat,” Duggan said. “Our ability to maintain the level of programming that we currently offer is under threat.”

KUNR relies on several federal grants that help support two government reporters. Funding from federal grants make up about 15 percent to 17 percent of KUNR’s budget, Duggan said. 

Although federal funding for larger stations makes up a smaller share of their budget, federal funding can represent up to 30 percent to 50 percent of budgets for rural stations, Duggan said. Nevada Public Radio President Favian Perez echoed concerns about rural stations’ heavy reliance on federal funding in a May statement to The Nevada Independent.

Vital infrastructure for public radio is also under threat, Duggan said. The CPB indirectly supports the interconnection system, a system of satellites connecting NPR stations. The CPB also negotiates music rights for public radio stations across the country to use in their programming.

That infrastructure is expensive for radio stations to acquire on their own, Duggan said.

For public television, federal funding makes up 12 percent of Vegas PBS’ budget and 17 percent of PBS Reno’s budget. 

Earlier this year, Cortez Masto was one of 10 Democrat senators to break with the party to pass a stopgap bill that averted a government shutdown.

Though that stopgap funding bill required 60 votes to prevent a filibuster, the rescissions package (which cuts spending including on public broadcasting agreed to as part of the stopgap spending bill) only required a simple majority or 51 votes to pass.

Cortez Masto declined to directly say if she regretted her vote, but said the dynamic makes it difficult to negotiate and trust Republicans on future budget negotiations.

“It makes it very difficult to then trust that they won't stand strong and say, 'No, we're their appropriators, and this is what we've decided,'” she said. “Instead, they're going to capitulate and cave.”

This story was updated at 09:23 a.m. on 7/17/2025 to reflect that the rescission bill passed the Senate and to include comments from Nevada Public Radio President Favian Perez.