President Donald Trump is escalating his administration’s clash with NPR and its member stations. As of Tuesday, the White House has formally requested that Congress rescind $1.1 billion in funding already allocated to public broadcasting.
The request, filed as part of a broader $9.4 billion proposed budget rollback, aims to zero out the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s funding through the end of fiscal year 2027. The proposed cuts target the full CPB allocation already approved by Congress in March as part of a stopgap budget deal.
This move follows earlier executive actions by Trump, including an order to block CPB funding from reaching NPR and PBS. NPR and several Colorado groups filed a joint lawsuit challenging that order, while CPB handles litigation of its own around Trump’s dismissal of multiple board members.
NPR CEO and President Katherine Maher issued a statement in response to Trump, saying, “For 50 years, public media has received bipartisan support from Congress because lawmakers understand the vital service it provides to the communities they represent. In 1975, Congress passed the Public Broadcasting Financing Act of 1975, establishing a two-year advance for public media funding in order to ensure the continuous service and editorial independence of the public media system.”
“In doing so, they recognized that taxpayer support for public media was a public good. This rescission would have a negligible impact on reducing the deficit and provide little-to-no savings for taxpayers, yet it would harm all Americans, shutting off access to local news, national reporting, music, and regional culture, and emergency alerting. Private media corporations have already demonstrated they are not willing to step into the gap to ensure universal access, deterred by expensive infrastructure and low-margin profit models. Public media serves every American in every part of this country, for less than 0.01 percent of total federal spending,” she said.
CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison added, “CPB is firmly committed to ensuring that funding for public media provides local communities with accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news and information, and we take seriously concerns about bias that have been raised. The path to better public media is achievable only if funding is maintained. Otherwise, a vital lifeline that operates reliable emergency communications, supports early learning, and keeps local communities connected and informed will be cut off with regrettable and lasting consequences.”
“CPB looks forward to working with policymakers, stakeholders, and the American public to maintain funding and strengthen the public trust.”
The proposed rescission would need simple majorities in both the House and Senate to take effect within 45 days. Given slim Republican margins, the move faces uncertain prospects, particularly in the Senate, where some GOP lawmakers have signaled concern about unrelated cuts included in the request, such as reductions to the HIV/AIDS PEPFAR program.
