The White House is planning Ask Congress to return more than $ 1 billion for public broadcasting in the United States, according to two people informed of the plan, a move that could eventually eliminate almost all federal support for NPR and PBS.
The plan is to ask Congress to cancel $ 1.1 billion in federal funding for the company for public broadcasting company, the company backed by taxpayers, who funding public media organizations in all the United States, one of the United States. If Congress agrees, this will amount to about two years of funding the organization, almost all of which go to public broadcasting, including NPR, PBS and their local members. Trump’s administration does not plan to ask Congress to refund about $ 100 million available for emergency communications.
Government money represents a small part of the budgets to NPR and PBS, which also produce sponsorship and donation revenue. Most of the government funding goes to local stations, which are based on it to finance the news rooms and pay for planning.
The proposal would be part of a wider cancellation package, an official request in Congress to cancel previously approved funds, which will also eliminate billions of foreign aid, the two people said. The procedure is established in accordance with the law, which gives the body and the Senate 45 days to vote to approve the request after it is submitted. The White House plans to submit this request for removal in the coming weeks, people said. If Congress does not approve the abolition request, the money must be spent as they are originally intended.
Trump’s proposal for the collapse of public broadcasting comes amid constant pressure on NPR and PBS by Republicans in Congress, who have intensified long -term attacks on broadcasting. The executives of both organizations testified before Congress last month in a fiery hearing that played long -standing party lines: Republicans attacked executives for what they saw as liberal prejudice and the Democrats were claimed.
The question would also be the last move of Trump administration to put pressure on media organizations. The administration is conducting a legal battle with the Associated Press for its decision to exclude the cable service from the Presidential Group, breaking decades. Mr Trump also personally sued CBS News and The des Moines Register and the Federal Committee of Communications has launched research on Comcast, PBS and NPR.
Representatives of the company for the public radio broadcast, PBS and NPR refused to comment.
The Company for the Public Broadcasting Directorate has been funded two years to isolate it from political maneuvering and a large part of the money for 2025 has already been paid to public broadcasting in the United States, according to a person familiar with the issue.
Public media executives are planning the opportunity to have public funding to return for months. According to a document drawn up by stations last autumn, the immediate elimination of funding, while unlikely, would be “similar to an asteroid impressive without notice”.
“It is the higher risk scenario, especially at a time when the media ecosystem is rapidly changing,” the document said.
Media’s public defenders say agricultural audiences will hit the toughest if the funding was cut by NPR and PBS stations. In very remote areas without broadband access, public radio and television are one of the few sources of news and entertainment.
But those who in favor of defunding say that progress in technology have made these services outdated. In an interview last month, spokesman Marjorie Taylor Greek, a Republican of Georgia, said that residents in farm departments of her area had plenty of mobile and internet services to inform them.
“The bottom line here: NPR and PBS have only to blame,” said Mike Gonzalez, a colleague at the Heritage Foundation, who has publicly supported the removal of public media. “For the last 50 years, every Republican president has tried to remove them or reform them.”
In 2011, NPR executives produced a secret report that investigated what would happen if state funding was eliminated. According to the report, up to 18 % of the approximately 1,000 membership stations in all the United States will close and $ 240 million will disappear from public radio. Stations in Midwest, South and West will be affected more and about 30 % of listeners will lose access to NPR programming.
One possible upward trend, according to the document: Federal funding would be granted public radio supporters, leading to a sudden increase in stations in the United States.
Maggie Haberman They contributed reports.
