Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) made a case to perpetuate the funding of public broadcasting due to its ability to alert the public of “weather disasters.”

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to proceed with a rescissions bill that would cut funding to National Public Radio and its television counterpart, the Public Broadcasting System. While Klobuchar voted against this, she appeared on MSNBC News’s Morning Joe on Wednesday to advocate against the “outrageous” funding cuts.

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“Just as we’ve seen these weather disasters, including, horrifically in Texas, but the fires in Arizona and the like in many remote areas or in states like Florida, with hurricane season upon us, they rely on a series of public broadcasting to get alerts out,” Klobuchar said. 

The Texas flood caused the deaths of at least 134 people as of Wednesday morning, with 101 still missing.

“And when it works well — when you actually have a system set up — it works well. This is not the time to cut back on public radio and public TV,” the senator added.

Klobuchar implied her Republican colleagues would “rubber stamp anything [President] Donald Trump wants,” in reference to his executive order to end funding for NPR and PBS. NPR has since filed suit against the Trump administration.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was one of two Republicans to vote against the rescissions bill Tuesday, citing her concern for public broadcasting funding as one reason for her vote.

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“The rescissions package has a big problem; nobody really knows what program reductions are in it,” Collins said. “That isn’t because we haven’t had time to review the bill. Instead, the problem is that [the White House Office of Management and Budget] has never provided the details that would normally be part of this process.”

The government has spent roughly $14 billion publicly funding NPR and PBS, including over $200 million on NPR’s newest headquarters in Washington, D.C. In addition to federal funding, both services also accept donations from consumers.