The US House of Representatives has approved the amended Rescissions Act of 2025, sending to President Donald Trump a legislative package that includes the elimination of all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027.
The House vote affirms the Senate’s narrow 51–48 passage that came early Thursday morning, putting hundreds of public radio and television stations across the country on uncertain footing.
The bill’s passage marks the denouement of the Trump administration’s campaign to defund NPR and PBS, which the President has framed as partisan entities undeserving of taxpayer support. The amended version of the legislation, passed by the Senate in the early morning hours of July 17, kept $1.1 billion in clawbacks from CPB – a move that public media advocates say will destabilize the system and lead to dire consequences.
“Today’s vote…is a decision with profound, lasting, negative consequences for every American,” said Corporation for Public Broadcasting CEO Patricia Harrison. “Without federal funding, many local public radio and television stations will be forced to shut down,” adding, “Cutting federal funding could also put Americans at risk of losing national and local emergency alerts that serve as a lifeline in times of severe need.”
Stations reliant on CPB support are already preparing for dramatic service reductions and, in some cases, full closures. Particularly at risk are small, independent stations in communities without commercial alternatives, which have historically relied on public media for emergency alerts, educational programming, and trusted journalism.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher highlighted the role stations played even as the Senate debated the bill.
“While the Senate voted on the floor [Wednesday], a 7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska, prompting three coastal stations to start broadcasting live tsunami warnings,” Maher said. “Even in the face of evacuation warnings, staff at KUCB, a station located in Unalaska, in the Aleutian Islands, remained at the station at sea level to get emergency messages on the air in coordination with public safety officials. KUCB is the only radio station serving Unalaska and the surrounding area – there are no alternatives, commercial or otherwise. The station provided up-to-date information to the Unalaska community throughout the entire evacuation and all-clear procedure.”
The loss of CPB funding, Maher warned, puts such service at risk in communities across the country. “Public radio is a lifeline,” she said. “It cannot be replaced, so it is essential that its funding be sustained.”
The White House is expected to sign the bill into law by tonight’s midnight deadline. Advocacy groups and local stations are now shifting their efforts to securing alternative sources of funding and lobbying for future appropriations through other legislative channels.
Simple solution. Do like I did for decades, before NPR and PBS largely pivoted stone-cold liberal and totally lost my $ support, donate or increase your financial supports folks. This will quickly make up the shortfall stemming from federal cuts.
I wish our annual income tax returns listed each private/public/for profit/non-profit USA based/non-USA based entity receiving federal $. Then we could check off those we wish to support and deselect those we wish not to support for each tax year.
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