With so much else on the chopping block, it was inevitable that Donald Trump’s axe would come for Big Bird. The rescission bill that passed Congress on July 18, now bound for Trump’s desk, accomplishes something conservatives have been attempting for more than fifty years: the effective end to federally funded public broadcasting as we’ve known it. Another link in America’s already threadbare social safety net has snapped.

Public broadcasting isn’t usually seen as part of the safety net, but it should: a key component in any society that has the remotest concern for its inhabitants’ well-being. Trump has long made a bugbear out of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and its most recognizable affiliated projects, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). CPB’s funding comes almost entirely from congressional appropriations. On October 1, its funding will cease.

It will not be PBS or NPR that will feel real pain from the $1.1 billion being rescinded. The vast majority of their funding comes from donations and foundation grants. No, most at risk will be the hundreds of small, local TV and radio stations that broadcast their programs, particularly in poor and rural areas.