How Indiana representatives, including Victoria Spartz, voted to strip NPR, PBS funds
All seven Republicans in Indiana's delegation voted for the final recissions bill on July 18 while the state's two Democrats voted against it, which mirrors how the Hoosier representatives voted during the House's initial approval of the spending cuts in June.
The House vote follows the early-morning approval in the Senate on July 17, which passed 51-48 with the support of Indiana Republican Sens. Todd Young and Jim Banks. About $400 million for a global AIDS program was saved from the initial total of spending cuts sought by the Trump administration after some moderate Republican senators voiced concerns about eliminating that funding.
Hoosiers are likely to see impacts from the cuts to public media, which funds NPR and PBS. Trump has sought to defund public media, suggesting it has a liberal bias that thwarts fair coverage while NPR and PBS have repeatedly refuted these claims.
Public media leaders in Indiana fear the bill will cause some of the state's small and rural stations to close. Statewide journalists at Indiana Public Broadcasting were informed on July 8 they would be laid off after state lawmakers zeroed out $7.4 million in public media support.
Public media funding: Indiana public media journalists to be laid off after state budget cuts
This story will be updated.
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.
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