The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday night, cutting $9 billion in already approved funds for public broadcasting and foreign aid. $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be cut, meaning all federal support for NPR and PBS, the main public radio organizations, will be rescinded. The vote was delayed for hours, following debate surrounding Trump’s handling of the “Epstein Files.” Ultimately, though, the House voted 216-213, with all but two Republicans in favor of the cuts. After clearing Congress, the bill is now being sent to Trump’s desk for his signature.
The cuts to funding for public media follow President Trump’s May executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, alleging partisan bias. The order stated, “Neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts argues, instead, that President Trump’s actions against PBS and NPR are “part of the administration’s larger campaign to undermine mainstream journalism.” He said the bill aligns with the president’s lawsuits against major broadcast networks and his suggestions that the Federal Communications Commission might punish their stations over accusations of liberal bias. Senator Markey stated, “It’s all part of a plan to intimidate and control the media and how they cover his presidency.”
Immediately following the House’s vote, NPR CEO Katherine Maher issued a statement calling Trump’s cuts an “irreversible loss” to the public radio system. She explained that the effect would be “an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will.”
“Public funding has enabled the flourishing of a uniquely American system of unparalleled cultural, informational, and educational programming, and ensured access to vital emergency alerting and reporting in times of crisis — all for about $1.60 per American, every year. Parents and children, senior citizens and students, tribal and rural communities — all will bear the harm of this vote,” Maher said.
“These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas,” PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger said. “Many of our stations, which provide access to free, unique local programming and emergency alerts, will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead,” she concluded.
Public broadcasting services are essential to emergency response plans for nearly half of the states in the US. The importance of effective emergency response services is now more pressing than ever, especially in the aftermath of the devastating July 4th flood in Texas’s Guadalupe River. Many emergency alert systems nationwide rely on public broadcasting.
Thursday’s vote means the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the nonprofit that distributes federal funds to public media outlets across the US, will lose $1.1 billion in funding for the next two years, the full amount the corporation was due to receive. CPB acts as a conduit for federal money to NPR, PBS, and their member stations. Though NPR does not rely as heavily on direct federal funding for its budget, its approximately 1,000 member stations get a significant portion of their funding through CPB. The cuts in federal funding are a devastating blow to the media, especially for small, local news stations across the US.
Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters, “Another rescissions package is likely to come soon.”
