With the 2025 hurricane season approaching, a bipartisan call from Capitol Hill is urging FEMA to unfreeze critical grant payments meant to bolster the emergency alert systems of public radio stations across the United States.
US Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) penned a letter to Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, asking to resume payments for the Next Generation Warning System grant program. These grants, administered through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reimburse stations for upgrades that ensure their ability to deliver emergency alerts under extreme conditions.
Since February 19, FEMA has halted access to the payment processing system, leaving nearly $2 million in reimbursements frozen. As a result, 42 stations across 23 states may be forced to delay or abandon critical resiliency improvements due to financial hardship.
The NGWS program, funded by Congress with $136 million over three years, is designed to help stations maintain uninterrupted service during natural disasters. In the first funding round, stations in Louisiana and Tennessee received millions of dollars in grant commitments. Both states have been directly affected by flooding and devastation tied to hurricanes within the past year.
Researchers at North Carolina State University are forecasting 12 to 15 named storms in the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. Of those, six to eight may become hurricanes, with two to three potentially reaching major hurricane status.
Grants also assisted stations in Sen. Murkowski’s home state of Alaska, where radio is often the only lifeline to rural communities.
The senators warn that continued delays threaten public safety. “Public broadcasters—who have already spent money to upgrade their infrastructure—may face financial challenges without promised reimbursements,” the letter states. “To put it simply: this funding freeze is unnecessarily threatening public safety.”
Sens. Markey and Murkowski request a written explanation from FEMA by April 29 outlining why payments were halted and when they will resume.
