As usual, there is a middle ground that the over zealous of both sides of the aisle want to ignore. Instead of cutting the entire program that actually does good at some communities, maybe we should get our heads out of our asses and work on a compromise. Do communities need EAS service if they are an hour drive from a city with regular service already?(SHD is 59 miles from CHO) Absolutely not. But there are still some remote cities that need that infrastructure for the betterment of the community as a whole. We have already discussed remote Alaskan villages, but there are a few places that are a pretty significant drive from regular service and have large populations that can benifut from the program. Del Rio, TX comes to mind.
So instead of canning the whole thing, let's set a limit. If there is an airport with regular device within a certain radius of your city (say 120miles)... you get no funding. And don't allow the congressmen to determine that radius.