Now that Congress has passed a bill that will defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS is taking drastic measures to stay alive. The move to lower dues is meant to make it easier for PBS member stations — which air programming like Sesame Street, PBS News Hour, and Finding Your Roots — to deal with some of their own financial burdens. But Kerger was also clear in her memo that PBS as a whole is fighting an uphill battle to stay afloat. But the CPB’s dismantling is going to put a significant strain on the US’ largest public media broadcasters, particularly for smaller member stations in more rural areas across the country. In PBS’ case, this new budget cut is also likely to lead to layoffs.