Conservative-majority Congress slashes public media funding by over one billion dollars

On July 17, the US Senate narrowly passed the Rescissions Act of 2025 by a 51–48 vote. This legislation rescinds approximately USD 1.1 billion in previously approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which supports publicly-funded media such as NPR and PBS, as part of a broader USD 9 billion federal spending cut which also includes cutting USD 7 billion in foreign aid such as USAID spending. 

After the House narrowly agreed to the Senate’s amendments to the Act, by a vote of 218 to 216, the bill is now headed to President Donald Trump’s desk, where it is almost certain to be signed into law. Trump himself spearheaded the campaign against publicly-funded outlets such as NPR and PBS, which conservatives in Trump’s camp argue use public funds to prompt news with a left-wing bias. 

“These are not honest news organizations. These are partisan, left-wing outlets that are funded by the taxpayers. And this administration does not believe it’s a good use of the taxpayer’s time and money,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt of both NPR and PBS on Thursday, July 17. 

While national NPR and PBS can survive financially after the bill becomes law, thousands of rural communities may lose their only source of local news, culture, and emergency communication, with many local stations relying on CPB grants. The cuts disproportionately impact rural, Indigenous, and low-income areas, which could result in localized information deserts.

“Public media, public radio, public television, are a critical part of the emergency response plans of nearly half of the states in this nation,” NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said in an interview with CBS News. “If these types of emergency alerting go away, you will have fewer outlets to be able to respond in real time.”