Congress has approved a request from the Trump administration to rescind billions of dollars in previously adopted federal funding, including tens of millions of dollars meant for Alaska’s 27 public radio stations.

The tightest vote was in the Senate, where the measure passed with 51 Republican votes in the 100-member chamber. It was after 2 a.m. Thursday, July 17, in Washington, D.C., when senators cast their final votes, with Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan split on the matter.

Sullivan voted in favor of the spending rescissions, while Murkowski joined Democrats and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in voting against the funding cuts.

The Republican-controlled House approved the measure early the next morning Friday, July 18, on a 216-213 vote. Alaska U.S. Rep. Nick Begich voted in support of the president’s request.

The Senate vote came just a few hours after a tsunami warning for Southwest Alaska was transmitted over the airwaves by public radio stations in Kodiak, Unalaska and Sand Point.

Managers of those radio stations have warned that the loss of federal funding could mean significant cuts in station operations, including to emergency broadcasts of natural hazards like tsunamis.

Alaska was set to receive roughly $30 million over the course of two years from the public radio funding targeted in the rescissions package.

Among Alaska’s 27 public radio stations, 11 receive more than half their budget from the federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to information shared by Alaska Public Media.

Wrangell’s KSTK receives close to half of its annual funding from the federal government.

As lawmakers were voting on amendments to the package, Murkowski pointed to the tsunami warning in Alaska as evidence of the importance of public radio funding.

“Some colleagues claim they are targeting ‘radical leftist organizations’ with these cuts, but in Alaska, these are simply organizations dedicated to their communities,” Murkowski said in a social media post. “Their response to today’s earthquake is a perfect example of the incredible public service these stations provide. They deliver local news, weather updates, and, yes, emergency alerts that save human lives.”

Sullivan through a spokesperson declined multiple requests for comment the day of the vote on the rescissions package. A day earlier, spokesperson Amanda Coyne said the senator had struck a deal with the White House to provide some funding to certain Alaska stations from another funding stream, but details on the new funding were sparse.

“Currently, there is approximately $10 million available for tribal and Native stations in the country. Alaska has 11 Native stations,” Coyne said in an email the evening after the Senate vote.

Coyne did not say which 11 Alaska stations qualify as “Native” (only one Alaska station — KNBA in Anchorage — is owned by an Alaska native corporation, and no Alaska stations are directly owned by tribes). Coyne also did not say how many other stations across the country would be competing against Alaska’s 11 eligible stations for the $10 million in funding.

Many stations that serve primarily Alaska Native communities in Alaska are not directly affiliated with or owned by tribes. Among them is KYUK, a Bethel station that serves numerous communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta with a Yup’ik language call-in show, among other services.

“We aren’t tribally owned, so frankly, it’s unclear whether or not those potential funds could even benefit a station like KYUK,” said station manager Kristin Hall.

Ed Ulman, president of Alaska Public Media, which serves statewide audiences with programs like Alaska News Nightly, said the network stands to lose $1.4 million annually, which constitutes 20% of its budget. Alaska Public Media would work with donors to try to fill in the gap, said Ulman.

But at KYUK and other stations serving more rural parts of the state, turning to local donors is a more difficult prospect. KYUK, which has a staff of about a dozen people, stands to lose $1.2 million annually — over half the station’s annual budget — and that is “not easily replaced by local fundraising,” Hall said.

Ahead of her no vote on the rescissions package, Murkowski implored her colleagues not to accept demands from the White House on federal funding.

President Donald Trump had said that he would withhold endorsements from Republican senators who don’t support his clawback effort.

Sullivan, who has aligned himself with Trump on most issues, is running for reelection in 2026.