Today, the U.S. House voted 216-213 to pass the “Rescissions Act of 2025” to claw back 9 billion dollars in bipartisan federal funding for a variety of grantees, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds both National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. Public Knowledge argues that punishing NPR and PBS because the administration dislikes their coverage threatens a free press.
The following can be attributed to Morgan Wilsmann, Policy Analyst at Public Knowledge:
“Today’s House vote to rescind the $1.1 billion in already approved funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a misguided attempt to punish NPR and PBS for perceived ideological bias. While national NPR and PBS organizations can weather the funding cuts, the communities that will suffer most are precisely those this Congress claims to champion: small towns and rural areas that depend on public broadcasting for essential services.
“When CPB funding disappears, it’s not wealthy urban liberals who lose access to information – it’s families in small towns whose children will go without free educational programming, whose residents will miss critical emergency broadcasts, and whose local stories will go untold.
“Adding to the absurdity of this rescissions act passage, the funding for the CPB had already been approved in the Continuing Resolution this past March with bipartisan support. By stripping this funding, Republicans have missed an opportunity to foster goodwill in future negotiations that will require support from their Democrat colleagues, but this is far from our only concern.
“Let’s speak plainly. President Trump is sending a message to all media by cutting funds for the CPB: covering this administration has a cost, particularly if President Trump doesn’t like what you have to say. This move simply serves to strike fear into the free press in a democracy.
“This rescissions package exemplifies the politics of spite over substance, harming the very constituents it purports to serve.”
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.