18-07-2025
US federal Govt gets approval from Congress to cut funding for public media organisations NPR and PBS
Congress in the United States has approved cuts to public media outlets leaving non-partisan stations such as Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio at a loss of funding of up to $1.1bn (€946m).
US politicians voted 216 to 213 for the so-called rescissions package, which was sent to Congress at the request of US President Donald J Trump..
The move will leave the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity set up by Congress to distribute funds to public media outlets, with zeroed out federal funding for the first time since it was formed in 1967.
The rescinded money had already been allocated by Congress for the next two fiscal years, starting on April 1.
The president and CEO of NPR Katherine Maher has said that the funding cuts were "an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will."
"Despite promises from some members of Congress to fix anything the bill breaks, this will be an irreversible loss," she said. "If a station doesn't survive this sudden turn by Congress, a vital stitch in our American fabric will be gone for good."
She said that "with support from listeners and readers in communities around the nation," they "will work to rebuild."
Public media advocates have been lobbying politicians in congress in recent weeks to keep the funding, pointing to the unique mandate of the non-commercial outlets to provide educational, cultural and local programming, among other content.
But the US Presidenr has targeted PBS and NPR, and their news programming in particular, as biased toward the left.
That has long been a common complaint on the right, but the US President threatened to withhold support or endorsements from any politicians who did not support the package.
