The House of Representatives has narrowly passed a bill to eliminate federal funding for public media over the next two years.
It marks a significant shift in long-standing support for NPR, PBS, and hundreds of local stations.
The legislation, approved 214 to 212, comes at the request of President Trump, who has repeatedly accused public broadcasters of liberal bias.
The vote followed intense lobbying and came down to two Republican lawmakers who flipped their votes at the last minute, giving the bill just enough support to pass.
At stake is $1.1 billion already allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB.
KSFR is among those stations receiving annual funding from the CPB allocation .
That money—legally approved earlier this year—is typically insulated from political influence by being funded two years in advance.
But the administration is now asking Congress to rescind it, as part of a larger $9.4 billion package of spending cuts.
New Mexico U.S. representative Melanie Stansbury issued an impassioned rebuke of the GOP recission legislation, which she called illegal before describing the goals of the measure.
"They've transmitted this package to cut $8 billion in programs to save lives of children across the world, that would gut UN programs, that would save thousands of lives, and to gut public broadcasting," Stansbury said.
"This is a full scale attack on our international system, global peace and security, the health and welfare of millions of children across the world, and on public television."
While most of those cuts target foreign aid programs, the public media provision has drawn the most attention.
Public broadcasters warn that the consequences could be immediate and severe, especially in rural and underserved areas.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher said local stations could go dark, leaving millions without access to trusted news, emergency alerts, and educational programming.
The vote exposed growing divisions within the Republican party.
Some GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada, spoke out against the cuts, citing the critical role of public media in rural communities.
Yet others, like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, called the funding wasteful.
Supporters of public broadcasting note it represents less than one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget but serves every congressional district.
The legislation now moves to the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority. If not passed by mid-July, the funds will be released as originally planned.
Portions adapted from an Associated Press report.
