Bye-bye, Big Bird? Trump turns to Congress for help with $9.4B in DOGE cuts to PBS, foreign aid
The Trump administration will send Congress a bill looking to codify some $9.4 billion in cuts by the Elon Musk-helmed Department of Government Efficiency, according to published reports.
The move, expected next Tuesday, comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to wrestle with the Republican White House's domestic policy mega-bill.
The cuts target $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $8.3 billion in foreign assistance for both the U.S. Agency for International Development, an early casualty of Musk's DOGE buzzsaw, and the African Development Foundation, according to Axios.
The transmission of the bill starts a 45-day clock for clawing back to previously appropriated funding.
It puts the future of NPR, PBS (the home of 'Sesame Street' and other beloved children's programming) and USAID on the line, Axios reported, noting that the White House is looking for a 'big public fight" over the programs.
And 'they are likely to get it,' the online news org reported.
A caveat: Both NPR and PBS receive the bulk of their funding from nongovernmental sources, according to Axios. But the Corporation for Public Broadcasting still sends them around $535 million in federal funding a year.
The cuts are more likely to impact smaller local stations, according to published reports.
Trump signed an executive order earlier this month ending federal funding for PBS and NPR, pointing out that Americans have more media choices than they did when PBS was established in 1967.
'Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,' the order reads.
'At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage,' it continued. 'No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.'
NPR previously defended its editorial integrity after U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called on the two broadcasters' CEOs to testify in a Capitol Hill hearing, Axios reported.
While the future of other PBS programming may be on the bubble, parents reared on 'Sesame Street' and their kids who watch it now still have options.
Netflix announced earlier this month that the show's 56th season, along with older episodes, will be coming to the subscription-only streamer later this year.
"The new season will feature fresh format changes and the return of fan-favorite segments like Elmo's World and Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck," Netflix said in a post to its website. 'Expect new ways to play along as Cookie Monster opens his very own Cookie Cart on Sesame Street, and explore Abby's Fairy Garden, a home to surprising and delightful magical creatures.'
The new episodes 'of the iconic series will be available same day-and-date in the U.S. on PBS stations and PBS KIDS digital platforms, bringing critical early learning to children throughout the country for free,' the streamer added.
That could now depend on the future of PBS and the way things unfold on Capitol Hill.
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