Influential Republican Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) has joined with Democrats to oppose the Trump administration's threat to cut $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to Politico.
The proposed cuts are part of a recissions package introduced last week by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) "to cut $9.4 billion previously greenlit by Congress, mainly for foreign aid," the report stated.
Reporter Calen Razor called Amodei's opposition "a potential problem for GOP leaders who need near-unity within their party to pass the White House’s request that Congress revoke billions of dollars it has already approved" for the funding arm of PBS and NPR.
Amodei and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) co-chair the Bipartisan Public Broadcasting Caucus. In a statement Monday, they said, "Public media has demonstrated a willingness to listen to the American public and adapt. While we reaffirm that public media must be objective and legitimate concerns about content should be addressed, funding decisions should be objective as well.”
The Trump administration has accused PBS and NPR of airing "programming biased against conservatives," and argued they should therefore not receive federal support.
A floor vote on the recissions package is expected later this week.
"It is unclear whether Amodei would vote against the package on the floor as it is, but leaders can only afford to lose three Republican votes and still pass the measure," Razor wrote.
He quoted a spokesperson for Amodei saying in a statement, “We don’t share how he is planning to vote before a vote but he is looking at all of the information."
