Big Bird deserves to lose this time.
In the past, whenever Republicans have tried to cut federal funding for public broadcasting, the eight-foot-two-inch-tall yellow bird has been trotted out as an exemplar of all that is good and necessary about PBS, and the federal dollars have been preserved.
Perhaps our Jim Henson-created feathered friend will continue his undefeated streak, but a Trump-backed recissions bill represents the best chance to defund public broadcasting in decades, if not ever.
The bill, clawing back previously appropriated funding, has already passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate, where the filibuster doesn’t apply.
The measure targets $9.4 billion in federal spending, including funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The CPB gets about $500 million a year from the federal government, and parcels it out to NPR, PBS and local public radio and TV stations.
NPR maintains that it only gets