Congresswoman Budzinski Votes NO on Reckless Cuts to Public Broadcasting, Global Aid, and Women’s Health

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) issued the following statement after voting NO on the President’s proposed package that slashes more than $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – jeopardizing over 1,500 locally owned public television and radio stations across the country.

“With this vote, House Republicans have officially abdicated Congress’s constitutional duty to appropriate federal dollars, effectively surrendering that authority to the Executive Branch. Let’s be clear: the funding they just voted to slash was passed with bipartisan support and signed into law. Walking away from those commitments isn’t just irresponsible — it’s reckless. These cuts jeopardize local public broadcasting, strip access to critical healthcare, gut lifesaving emergency programs, and undermine our support for global allies. It doesn’t make us stronger — it makes us weaker.”

In addition to gutting funding for public broadcasting, the package would:

• Eliminate all civilian funding for Ukraine and U.S. partners in Eastern Europe and Central Asia – crippling efforts to counter Russian aggression.
• Deny access to contraception and family planning services for more than 24 million women worldwide.
• Rescind over $2.5 billion in development aid, resulting in:
  • More than 40 million children losing access to education.
  • Over 3.6 million people losing access to clean water.

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