During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questioned OMD Director Russell Vought about President Trump's rescissions request, and pushed back on criticism of the appropriations process made by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).
00:00Thank you for being here today to answer our questions, whether it's on the specifics of this rescission package, to where this all might be headed with the Impoundment Control Act.
00:15I think probably to a number, every one of us is supportive of PEPFAR and the intent of that program.
00:26I think we all recognize that most of everything we do around here isn't entirely perfect and we try to do as good as we can and improve it every single opportunity that we have.
00:38I'm going to ask you some questions with regards to Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
00:45But just kind of from a more general perspective, it's absolutely the administration's right to send us rescissions.
00:55It's our right as a Congress to then figure out whether or not we're going to support them.
01:01But I am going to strongly, strongly push back against my colleague here on this side of the aisle, Senator Kennedy, in his comments,
01:12basically saying that all we have anymore when it comes to appropriations are CRs, which were a miserable option, and rescissions.
01:23I refuse that. I reject that.
01:25And I think that not only we as appropriators on this committee should reject that, but we as members of the Senate, members of the Congress, should reject that.
01:34It's pretty clear in Article I what it is that we're supposed to be doing when it comes to the power of the purse, appropriations.
01:44We have a responsibility and, Administrator, you have aptly pointed out that maybe in some of these areas we have failed because I think many of the initiatives that you have specifically cited to our constituents would probably say that's not what was intended.
02:03But this is our role here in the Congress and as appropriators to again assert our role and our responsibility.
02:17I don't object to the fact that you have come to this hearing today to present your review. That's absolutely fair and legitimate.
02:31But I want us as senators, I want us as members of the legislative branch to make sure that we are being faithful and have fidelity to our requirements under the Constitution as well.
02:45So, I want to ask about public broadcasting in the time that I have here.
02:51You have said that, and it's more specific to NPR I think, but you said that basically it's all political.
03:01I am going to give you a little bit of a bird's eye view of what I consider to be not political when it comes to the corporation for public broadcasting and the role that they play in my state.
03:17So, I've got kind of a memo here from Coast Alaska which is our Alaska public media outlining the various public media stations around the state of Alaska.
03:29I'd like the permission that they be included as part of the record.
03:33I'm going to go with that objection.
03:35But there's 22 different stations that are listed here and they're everywhere from 24% of their annual budget to 70% in Sand Point.
03:49communities that are relatively small but have extraordinary reach. In Barrow,
03:55the station up there covers some 95,000 miles. When the fiber optic cable was
04:02severed by ice about six or seven months ago, that has still not been repaired.
04:09It's public broadcasting that is beaming out to the communities out there to keep
04:14those people connected. Right now we've got wildfires that are raging in the
04:19in the interior part of the state and so at Fort Yukon and McGrath it is it is
04:25just our public radio stations that are providing the updates to get people into
04:31into safe areas. Senator Rounds mentioned the the very important role that that we
04:40see with regards to our tribes. We have more than 60 tribal stations that is
04:46served out of KNBA that would be disproportionately impacted where they
04:50offer emergency alerts vital community connections. So I'm going through their
04:57their concerns because almost to a number they're saying that they will go under
05:04if if public broadcasting funds are no longer available to them and you've
05:10indicated that well they're going to have time to to readjust their budget
05:16because it's not going to be this year this fiscal year that's going to be
05:18impacted. When you have a community like Sandpoint out in the Aleutian Islands
05:23where 70% of their budget comes from public broadcasting or in in let's just say
05:31wrangle because I'm going to be going there in a few days 50% of their budget
05:35comes from public broadcasting there is no way to recalibrate there is no there is
05:41no safety valve for them. So Administrator I've I've run out of time to to ask my
05:48question but I hope you feel the urgency that I'm trying to express on them on
05:54behalf of the people in rural Alaska and I think in many parts of rural America
05:59where this is their lifeline this is where they get the updates on that
06:03landslide this is where they get the updates on the the wildfires that are
06:07coming their way and so how how they will be able to not only get the emergency
06:16alerts that they need but also the weather reporting to make sure that that
06:20fishermen out in on Alaska can go out safely so that these communities can be
06:26connected when the deadly landslide has come through. I know Senator Rounds has
06:30asked for specific help with regards to the tribes but mine is much bigger and I
06:36think it we're not we're not necessarily alone we're just a little more extreme in
06:40the ask. Senator thanks for the the comment and we'll definitely work with you
06:44throughout the process if it's not in this and the fiscal year 26. I think we're
06:49to the point for decades we've had concerns with the extent to which public
06:54broadcasting was funding content that was run contrary to the American people and
06:59we've got to get to the point where we can finally deal with that and we believe
07:03we put forward a proposal that gives a run rate to be able to deal with that but I
07:07certainly want to work with you throughout the various opportunities that
