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April 26, 2025 (Updated: June 2, 2025)
In the coming days, we anticipate the White House will submit a rescission package to Congress that would eliminate federal funding for all public media, including WQPT PBS, the Quad City region's public broadcasting station. If this happens, it would mark the most serious threat to federal public media funding in decades. Once this package is formally submitted, Congress will have up to 45 days to vote on whether to implement these cuts, but their decision could arrive much sooner.
The White House has delivered a plan to Congress to eliminate previously approved federal funding for public media, threatening the existence of WQPT PBS and the entire public media system.
This is the most severe threat public media has ever faced, but we have powerful allies: you and community members who value and support WQPT PBS.
The most crucial step you can take to protect your local public media service is to tell Congress that you reject rescission and support WQPT PBS and federal funding for public media. Visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org to make your voice heard now.
Congress has a limited time to act on this proposal. If lawmakers fail to approve it — or can’t get the votes to pass it — the funding will be restored.
If funding is clawed back, the consequences will be devastating for WQPT PBS and public media stations across the country. Federal funding — only about $1.60 per person each year — powers essential services that our Quad Cities Region depends on:
Federal funding makes up 50% of our annual budget. Without it, these essential services that reach 800,000 residents across the Quad Cities and Mississippi Valley region could be eliminated.
If Congress decides to defund public media, WQPT PBS could be forced off-air entirely, leaving communities across our service area without access to reliable information, local programming, local educational outreach and life-saving emergency alerts.
Numerous studies, including a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, have concluded that there is no viable substitute for federal funding. Research also shows that Americans strongly support federal funding for public media, including a recent study by Pew Research Center.
Your outreach today is critical. If we can show Congress that most Americans value public media, we can protect the federal funding that makes WQPT PBS possible.
At WQPT PBS, we believe in the power of public media to unite communities, stimulate local economies, celebrate our local history and culture, and deliver essential information when you need it most.
We know you value this, too, and we want to continue providing the best of public media to you.
It’s up to all of us to safeguard WQPT PBS for today, tomorrow, and generations ahead. Thanks for your support and attention to this urgent matter.
With sincere gratitude,
WQPT PBS General Manager
A public media service of
Member
