House Set To Vote On Bill To Rescind Funding To PBS, NPR And Public Broadcasting Stations
A bill to rescind $1.1 billion in funding from PBS, NPR and public media stations is scheduled to come to the floor for a vote this afternoon.
There are expectations that the legislation will pass, after it cleared a procedural vote on Wednesday, 213-207.
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The claw back of federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the non-profit set up by Congress to allocate grants to public media entities, threatens to destabilize the public media ecosystems, which dates to the 1960s.
Advocates say that the threat is most acute for public media stations, including a number in rural areas that rely on federal money for more than 30% of their budgets. More than 70% of the CPB's federal appropriation goes to about 1,500 local public media stations.
The Trump administration proposal would eliminate the annual $535 million in funding for each of the fiscal years 2026 and 2027. The cuts were part of a 'rescissions' package that also includes billions of dollars in cuts to foreign aid programs, including medical care and AIDS prevention.
If the bill passes the House, it would then go to the Senate, where it can clear with just a simple majority.
Some Republicans have vowed to oppose the rescissions package, including Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), who joined with Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in a statement warning that eliminating the funding would 'not meaningfully reduce the deficit, but it will dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans.' It was unclear if enough Republicans will join with Democrats to defeat the package. Republicans hold a slim 220-212 majority in the House.
Trump signed an executive order on May 1 that instructed the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and all federal agencies to cease funding for NPR and PBS, deeming them 'biased.' PBS and NPR have since sued Trump on First Amendment groups.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sued the administration over its effort to fire three board members, arguing that the Public Broadcasting Act shields it from the president's interference. Over the weekend, a federal judge issued a ruling against the CPB, but he noted that the entity had changed its bylaws to maintain its independence. The CPB said that the three board members, who include Sony's Tom Rothman, will remain.
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