Maine’s public radio and broadcasting network could lose close to $5 million over two years, or about 12% of its annual budget, under a proposal currently before the U.S. Senate that seeks to claw back $9.4 billion in federal money already approved by Congress.

The package put forward by President Donald Trump would rescind $8.3 billion in foreign assistance and $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit responsible for distributing federal funds to locally-owned public radio and television stations.

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network is warning that the cuts, which have already been approved in the U.S. House of Representatives and are expected to go before the Senate next week, could have a devastating impact on public broadcasting in Maine and nationally.

“We would face some hard choices,” said Rick Schneider, president and CEO of Maine Public.

The network runs public radio and television programming throughout Maine and also coordinates emergency alerts. It has an annual budget of around $19 million and employs about 120 people.

About 12% of Maine Public’s funding comes from federal dollars awarded through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, while more than 75% is raised from donations in Maine, 9% comes from the state and a small amount from other miscellaneous sources.

Trump has accused National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service, the nation’s primary public broadcasters, of bias and in May signed an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding them. The order also prohibited stations like Maine Public from using CPB funds to pay NPR for programming and associated fees and instructed federal agencies to also cease funding.

NPR and PBS have sued to block the order and to seek temporary relief from a loss of funds while the suit plays out.

But Schneider said the order’s impact has been minimal so far since CPB is a private nonprofit, so the federal government does not have the authority to tell it how to spend its money. “The fact of the matter is very little has happened because of it,” Schneider said. “The truth is, this is really more about funding, and that’s why the rescission bill is so important.”

One impact of the order is that the U.S. Department of Education canceled a grant to PBS for the creation of children’s programming, the Ready to Learn grant. “So it did have the effect of taking away support for children’s programming, not all of it but a lot of it,” Schneider said.

He said the rescission package presents both the direct impact of a $2.5 million per year cut to Maine Public over the next two years and broader impacts for public radio and television stations across the country, who contribute fees to NPR and PBS to support access to national programming.

“If some stations go away or can’t afford to pay those fees, that affects the entire model of how this programming happens,” Schneider said.

Maine’s congressional delegation has also expressed concerns about the CPB cuts. Both Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, voted against the $9.4 billion rescission package. A spokesperson for Sen. Angus King, I-ME, said he also opposes the package.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, said this week she is discussing possible changes with members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which she chairs. In particular, Collins has said she is opposed to $900 million in cuts to global health programs that fund activities related to child and maternal health, HIV and AIDS.

In a written statement Friday, Collins said she supports the Corporation for Public Broadcasting but the “longstanding partisan nature of National Public Radio has tainted the work that CPB and the local affiliates have done.”

“More than 70 percent of this funding flows to local television and radio stations that provide local programming and important emergency communications in rural communities in Maine and across the country,” Collins said. “I am continuing to discuss possible changes to the rescissions package with my colleagues to attempt to preserve some of this funding as we prepare for the package to move to the Senate floor next week.”

Schneider said Maine Public has had an outpouring of support from listeners and viewers opposed to the cuts. “We hope Sen. Collins is thinking hard about this and taking the right steps to seek a better solution than just cutting out the funding altogether,” he said.