NPR CEO Katherine Maher joined “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown” to discuss her reaction to the Senate voting by a razor-thin margin late Tuesday to advance debate on a package of cuts that would decimate public media, as requested by Trump.

Washington

NPR CEO Katherine Maher appeared on CNN to discuss the Senate's narrow vote to advance debate on a bill that would significantly reduce funding for public media, a move requested by former President Trump. Maher emphasized that the proposed cuts threaten the coverage of public media for 13 million Americans, particularly affecting rural and tribal communities where alternatives are limited.

Maher explained that most federal funding goes directly to local stations, with NPR itself receiving only a small portion. She warned that up to 80 stations could close if the cuts pass, primarily those serving rural and tribal areas. Maher also addressed criticisms of bias, stating NPR's commitment to serving all Americans and inviting feedback on coverage concerns. She stressed the importance of local journalism and the risk of losing vital news coverage if funding is reduced.

NPR CEO on broadcaster's fight to stay funded

Catherine Maher joins us live in the Situation Room. She is the CEO of NPR. Catherine, thank you so much for coming on. So as we know, NPR stations across the country have been lobby lawmakers. Do you see any signs of those efforts working? I think that the fact that we are having this conversation right now and the fact that the vice president had to come down to the floor of the Senate last night to break two ties to move this bill forward to debate today is an indication that people are listening. Absolutely. This bill threatens the coverage of public public media coverage for 13 million Americans. And we have heard from folks from Alaska to Nebraska, Alabama to Maine about how concerned they are about what might be to come. As you know, 50 Republican senators voted with the vice president. He's the vice president, the president of the Senate, so he can break a tie voted to advance the bill. The final bill, as we've been noting, takes place later today. Are there any specific senators you're focusing on just ahead of that vote? Well, in fairness, we're talking to any senators that will listen, of course, because we have stations in every state in the country, 246 member stations as well as hundreds of music stations and public television stations as well. But I think that the place where we're seeing the most traction is senators who represent communities where there are large rural communities, large tribal communities, in particular in places like Alaska, where there just isn't a lot of other options. Broadband service is not universal, and heck, even cell phone service is not universal. There's a real understanding of the need there as well as for emergency alerting in which public media plays an extraordinarily important role. What do you say to Republicans who argue the funding is a waste of taxpayer dollars and consider your outlet to be a biased propaganda machine? Well, I would take those two things apart. Number 170% of all funding goes directly to local stations. NPR receives 1 to 2% of national funding on an annual basis. We're talking $3 million, $5 million. It's not much. I think, unfortunately, this is cutting off their constituents' noses despite NPR's face. It doesn't help anyone to take this funding away. As far as the accusations that were biased, I would stand up and say, Please show me a story that concerns you because we want to know and we want to bring that conversation back to our newsroom. We believe that as a public broadcaster, we do have an obligation to serve all Americans, and we need to make sure that our coverage reflects the interests and perspective and we hear from Americans across the political spectrum. That's important to us, and we want to make sure we live up to that. Catherine, explain to us what happens to the local stations all around the country if these cuts pass. I mean, I think that we could see as many as 80 stations shutter. We saw a report from Senator Cantwell's office on the Commerce Committee that indicated that those are the numbers that they are looking at. These air stations that received more than 50% of their funding from the federal government, again, tribal stations, rural stations primarily. Beyond that, you'd see the stations would probably start by letting go of local journalists. We already know that there's a crisis in local news in this country. 20% of Americans live in a place without local news other than public media. And then I think the next thing to go would be universal coverage. Right now, public broadcasting covers 99.7% of the country, places that commercial broadcasters just won't go or can't go because it's too expensive to maintain that infrastructure. You'd start to see that coverage degrade as well, and you'd be punching holes in a national infrastructure map that has served this nation for more than half a century. What about the stations in the bigger cities like Washington or Chicago and New York? Well, it's important to support those stations, too. They are independent, local journalism. And at a time where we have excellent national journalism coverage, we know that we're sitting here on one of those broadcast networks. We have excellent national newspapers, but we don't necessarily have really strong local coverage. I know this is a resident of the city of Washington, D. C. It's hard to find the person that is covering my transit map changes. Stations like W. A. M. U. Here in D. C. They do that kind of work. New York. It's the same. You see that across cities in the nation, especially midsize cities like Kansas City, um, Tallahassee. These air stations that fill a critical gap that don't otherwise exist. I love NPR. I before I joined CNN, I was a regular guest on some of the NPR shows. Love to hear that. It's a subject close to my heart.

Israel has faced international condemnation over its three days of airstrikes in Syria. The European Union and the United Nations have called for a return to calm, while Iran has urged countries in the region to respond against Israel.

Damascus

Middle East Conflict

World reacts to Israeli attacks on Syria’s Damascus

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz makes his first state visit to the United Kingdom to sign a historic defence cooperation treaty—the first of its kind between Germany and Britain since the Second World War. The agreement includes plans for joint defence efforts, boosting economic collaboration, and tackling illegal migration.

London

Germany and UK seal historic defence pact

Donald Trump says American-made weapons bought by NATO are being shipped to Ukraine. Trump's also threatening sanctions, saying his aim is to force Putin to negotiate an end to the war. But with Ukraine under nightly attack, there’s scepticism over whether he'll achieve anything.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

U.S. ships NATO purchased Patriot missiles to Ukraine

Syria condemns Israel for fatal strikes on several government buildings in Damascus. The escalation threatens to disrupt new U.S.-brokered security talks between Israel and Syria, with both sides expressing concerns over stability in the region.

Israeli airstrikes on Syria threaten security talks

U.S. President Donald Trump is still dealing with fallout from his own supporters over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. CBS News Department of Justice reporter Jake Rosen has more.

Trump says Epstein conspiracy theory is hoax started by Democrats

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that she spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and that the two had agreed to strengthen trade collaboration, particularly in light of the tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump set to go in effect on August 1.

Mexico City

Global Tariffs

Mexico plans to strengthen trade with Canada

Former President Barack Obama joined his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, on her latest podcast episode with her brother Craig Robinson to address divorce rumors.

Obamas address divorce rumors on Michelle’s podcast

Israel struck Syrian military targets as well as central Damascus on Wednesday (July 16) as it continued its campaign to protect Druze minority communities in southern Syria.

Israel strikes Damascus as fighting rages in southern Syria

U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee's appearance at Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial follows President Trump's call for Israel to throw out the case or pardon the Israeli prime minister.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

U.S. ambassador attends Netanyahu trial to show support from Trump

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. would impose a 19% tariff on goods from Indonesia under a new agreement with the Southeast Asian country and more deals were in the works as he continued to press for what he views as better terms with trading partners.

Trump eyes more trade deals soon as EU readies retaliation

At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday (July 16) at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in what the U.S.-backed group said was a crowd surge instigated by armed agitators. This video contains graphic images.

Jerusalem

Crush at Gaza aid site kills at least 20, GHF blames agitators

Police in Los Angeles have arrested a 22-year-old suspect in the double homicide of American Idol executive Robin Kaye and her husband, Thomas Deluca. The couple, both 70 years old, was found shot to death in their home earlier this week.

Encino

Police make arrest in murders of American Idol executive, husband

Streaming shows dominated nominations for the 2025 Emmy Awards. "Severance" earned the most series nominations with 27. Meanwhile, "The Studio" earned the most-ever nominations for a debut comedy series with 23.

Hollywood

'Severance' and 'The Studio' earn top Emmy nominations

The United Torah Judaism party has decided to quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition over its failure to secure military service exemptions. Members of the ultra-orthodox community have been exempted from enlisting in the army since 1948.

Major cracks in Netanyahu coalition as ultra-Orthodox party quits

New information about the Jeffrey Epstein case may soon be made public after a reversal from U.S. President Donald Trump and weeks of criticism — the loudest of which has come from within the MAGA movement.

Epstein files may be released after Trump reversal

Russia's Vladimir Putin has rejected President Trump's ultimatum for Moscow to sign a ceasefire deal with Ukraine in the next 50 days. Trump has threatened to issue a 100% tariff on any country that does business with Russia if no ceasefire deal is reached.

Moscow

Russia rejects Trump's ultimatum for ceasefire in Ukraine

Fighting has erupted in the southern Syrian city of As Suwayda just six hours after a ceasefire was announced. Earlier on Tuesday, Syrian government forces withdrew heavy vehicles from the city, hoping to ease tensions.

As Suwayda

Fighting erupts in Syria’s As Suwayda hours after ceasefire deal

Two laptops and hard drives containing watermarked and unreleased music by Beyoncé were stolen from her choreographer’s rental car in Atlanta, according to police.

Atlanta

Unreleased Beyoncé music stolen from choreographer’s rental car

The House Committee on Education and Workforce is holding its ninth hearing in 18 months on antisemitism on college campuses. CBS News' Shanelle Kaul has more details.

Anger at House committee hearing on antisemitism in college campuses

An Air India Boeing airplane crashed in northwestern India in June, killing all people on board but one passenger. India's aviation regulator has now ordered airlines to examine fuel control switches on several Boeing models.

New Delhi

India orders airlines to inspect Boeing airplane models after crash

Controversy on Capitol Hill over the so-called Epstein Files is seemingly not going away anytime soon.

House Republicans block Democratic push to release Epstein documents

An Israeli scheme to move hundreds of thousands of already uprooted Palestinians to a so-called "humanitarian city" in Gaza has led politicians to spar with the defense establishment. Critics inside and outside Israel have denounced the proposal.

Critics slam Israeli scheme to move Gazans to 'humanitarian city'

At least two people were killed in a New Jersey flash flooding event, Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday morning as heavy rains are expected to continue battering the Northeast. CBS News' Rob Marciano has more details.

New Jersey

Two killed in New Jersey flash flooding

After over a week of negotiations in Doha, a truce in Gaza remains elusive, despite intensified efforts by mediators. The stalemate continues as both Hamas and Israel trade blame over ongoing strikes.

Doha

Gaza truce still out of reach after Doha talks

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Donald Trump's administration to resume dismantling the Department of Education, part of his bid to shrink the federal government's role in education in favor of more control by the states.

U.S. Supreme Court clears way for Trump to gut Education Department

Syria's government troops entered the Sweida region following deadly clashes on Tuesday, while Israel carried out strikes against them, saying it was acting to protect the Druze minority.

Syrian forces enter Sweida city following deadly clashes

Heavy rains slammed the Northeast and caused flash floods in the New York City subway system. CBS News' Rob Marciano has the latest.

New York

Flash flooding pummels NYC and slams subway lines

US President Donald Trump told Russia to end its war in Ukraine within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions, as he laid out plans for infusions of weaponry for Kyiv via NATO. "We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent," Trump said.

Trump gives Moscow 50-day ultimatum over Ukraine war

A Gaza-bound boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid left Sicily, over a month after Israel detained and deported people aboard a previous vessel.

Sicily

New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy

The U.S. will manufacture more weapons to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion. President Trump said European nations will be footing the bill.

Breakdown