House Republicans vote to rescind $1.1 billion allocated for public broadcasting

The vote was along party lines, so when people wonder what happened to their favorite PBS fundraising, we'll know who to blame. 

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  June 12, 2025 | 5:44pm
TV News PBS
House Republicans vote to rescind $1.1 billion allocated for public broadcasting
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Another day, another chip away at America’s crumbling democracy. After a sitting U.S. Senator was forcibly removed from a DHS press conference and handcuffed by Homeland Security, House Republicans voted to rescind $1.1 billion in federal funding to public broadcasting. The 214-212 vote was split along party lines primarily. Only Republicans voted to cut $9.4 billion from foreign aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. All Democrats and four Republicans opposed the bill. This money helps fund NPR, PBS, and more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and TV stations, spending items Republicans call wasteful and unnecessary. The cuts to public broadcasting will occur over two years, with a $535 million cut in 2026 and another $535 million in 2027. The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate.

“The fight to protect public media does not end with this vote, and we will continue to make the case for our essential service in the days and weeks to come,” said President and CEO Paula Kerger in a statement. “Our work is only possible because of the bipartisan support we have always received from Congress, support we have earned by providing services that cannot be replaced by commercial media.”

Per The Guardian, the cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would rescind all the money previously allocated by Congress over the next two years. That money would then be distributed among local public radio and television stations. This will be particularly brutal for rural areas prone to natural disasters that rely on local news, a void that AI-generated chum will likely fill. It will also cut hundreds of millions in foreign aid programs related to infectious disease, child and maternal health, and HIV.

 
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