(NewsNation) — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down its operations after 58 years, the nonprofit announced.

The organization said the decision “follows Congress’s rescission of all of CPB’s federal funding and comes after sustained political attacks that made it impossible for CPB to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act intended.”

“For more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all Americans — regardless of geography, income, or background — had access to trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling,” CPB CEO and president Patricia Harrison said in a press release.

“When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks,” added Harrison.

Congress first authorized the nonprofit under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which led to CPB helping build and sustain a nationwide public media system of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public radio and television stations.

They were behind the legendary shows “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

“What has happened to public media is devastating,” acknowledged Chair of CBP’s Board of Directors Ruby Calvert. “After nearly six decades of innovative, educational public television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for CPB, leaving the Board with no way to continue the organization or support the public media system that depends on it.”

CBP says it will complete the responsible distribution of all remaining funds in accordance with Congress’s intent as part of its dissolution.