Both chambers of Congress are currently out for their August recess. Thanks to your hard work, we were able to take several steps toward ensuring that public media is funded for generations to come before Congress departed.

However, there is still much work to do when Congress returns after Labor Day. Here is a quick overview of where federal funding for public media currently stands:

The Good News

The full House Appropriations Committee passed its Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-Ed) FY 2018 spending bill, which includes full funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Ready To Learn.

The Bad News

Unfortunately, the House did not include funding for Interconnection – which provides the essential infrastructure that allows your stations to broadcast your favorite programs – in its budget.

The Road Ahead

When Congress returns after Labor Day, our mission is to ensure that all public media funding, including funding for Interconnection, is included in the Senate spending bill and any final spending bill negotiated between the House and Senate.

What You Can Do

• Sign up to join the Protect My Public Media Action Network.
• Recruit your friends to join, too.
• Learn why federal funding is vital to the survival of your stations.

In the next few weeks, we’ll share more information on the specific programs that support your stations’ community services. All of these actions will help us protect public media funding when Congress returns.

We couldn’t have made it this far without your help and look forward to continuing to work together to preserve public media.