House Votes to Slash Federal Funding for Public Media

Published: June 17, 2025

ian-hutchinson-P8rgDtEFn7s-unsplash — Photo by Ian Hutchinson via Unsplash

By Mallory Mattingly

Last week, the House of Representatives voted to discontinue federal funding for public media outlets including National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

President Donald Trump had accused “NPR and PBS of bias against conservative viewpoints as part of his broader attacks on the mainstream media,” according to NPR.

In an Executive Order he signed at the beginning of May, Trump called the “Government funding of news media in this environment…not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” adding that no media outlet has a “constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies.”

NPR and PBS receive taxpayer dollars through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB’s governing statutes say it may not “contribute to or otherwise support any political party.” However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS. Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter,” the Executive Order explained. “What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”

On Thursday, the House approved Trump’s request to cut funding in a 214 to 212 vote. It slashed “about $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress as President Donald Trump’s administration looks to follow through on work by the Department of Government Efficiency when it was overseen by Elon Musk.”

Most of the cuts — $8.3 billion — were for foreign aid. The remaining $1.1 billion were funds originally allocated to CPB. It will “eliminate the next two years of federal funding” for public media, according to NPR.

In response, CPB plans to sue the Trump administration.

“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the president’s authority,” said CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison. “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”

“Cutting off federal funding to public media will not only damage local stations, it will be disruptive for millions of Americans who rely on it for news and information that helps them make decisions about their lives and participate in their communities,” she added.

Likewise, Paula Kerger, PBS’s chief executive and president, echoed, “If these cuts are finalized by the Senate, it will have a devastating impact on PBS and local member stations, particularly smaller and rural stations that rely on federal funding for a larger portion of their budgets. Without PBS and local member stations, Americans will lose unique local programming and emergency services in times of crisis.”

“Before we trigger major consequences for our local public broadcasting stations throughout the West and other rural areas, we need more discussion—rather than railroading folks over the East Coast’s editorials and indiscretions,” Rep. Mark Amodei, a Nevada Republican who voted against Trump’s request, told NPR. “I agree we must make meaningful cuts to shrink our federal deficit; however, I would be doing a disservice to the thousands of rural constituents in my district if I did not fight to keep their access to the rest of the world and news on the air.”

But those who approved the cuts believe they’re following through on the mandate the American people gave Trump when they elected him.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, your taxpayer dollars are no longer being wasted,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said after the vote. “Instead, they are being directed toward priorities that truly benefit the American people.”

Americans will have to wait to see what the long-term impact of no federal dollars means for NPR and PBS.

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