WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two U.S. Senators have asked the Acting Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to lift its freeze on grants that are designed help improve the resiliency of public broadcasting stations.
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) sent a letter to Acting FEMA head Cameron Hamilton noting that the agency has frozen these grants since February.
In their letter, Markey and Murkowski write, “Public broadcasters play a vital and often under-recognized role in communicating emergency alerts to the public. Many public broadcasters are designated as Primary Entry Point stations by FEMA, meaning they are the first to receive and disseminate national alerts, including messages from the president, through the U.S. Emergency Alert System. These stations then relay messages to other broadcasters and cable systems, initiating a cascading chain of emergency communication. Public broadcasters also participate in the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which enables the delivery of authenticated alerts from federal, state, and local authorities across multiple platforms.”
The lawmakers continued, “This freeze can have serious consequences for the public. Public broadcasters — who have already spent money to upgrade their infrastructure — may face financial challenges without promised reimbursements. They may have to delay or cancel projects intended to make their stations more resilient, potentially preventing them from communicating emergency alerts to the public when the next hurricane, wildfire, or winter storm strikes. To put it simply: this funding freeze is unnecessarily threatening public safety. Given the importance of this funding, we urge FEMA to immediately reopen the payment processing system and continue processing NGWS grant reimbursements.”
