House passes bill rescinding CPB funds

The House approved Thursday the Trump administration’s $9.4 billion rescission package that includes CPB funding, advancing the measure to the Senate. 

The package passed 214-212, with four Republicans voting against it. 

President Trump proposed clawing back $535 million in CPB’s forward-funded appropriations for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 as part of the package. 

The rescissions now need a simple majority in the Senate, not the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. Debate on a rescission bill is limited to 10 hours, according to the research nonprofit Brookings Institution.  

In a statement after the vote, America’s Public Television Stations President and CEO Kate Riley said local stations will bear the brunt of the CPB rescission. 

“This destructive rescission of Corporation for Public Broadcasting … funding — the substantial majority of which goes to local stations — will result in immediate and serious cuts of stations’ local services and in some cases the total closure of stations, particularly in rural communities,” Riley said.

Trump sent his rescission package to Congress June 3. It includes cuts to foreign aid programs, which lawmakers debated along with the potential impact of eliminating public media’s federal funding on Thursday. Democrats brought up children’s programming and public broadcasting’s value to public safety, while Republicans cited bias in public media. 

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said public media saves lives.

“If there’s an emergency in your town, chances are the local public media station is sounding the alarm and giving you the information you need to stay safe,” Pingree said. “The purpose of public media is to inform, educate, engage. It makes people’s lives better and has undoubtedly made our country stronger, and this president wants nothing more than to destroy it.” 

But Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) said public broadcasting has not adhered to objectivity standards for decades. 

“Children should not be fed woke propaganda, certainly not on the taxpayer dime,” Hinson said. 

In criticizing public media for liberal bias, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) cited Uri Berliner’s April 2024 essay in The Free Press, in which the former NPR editor claimed that NPR’s D.C. newsroom was dominated by registered Democrats. Jordan drew from Berliner’s essay during his questions for a March congressional hearing with the CEOs of NPR and PBS.

“This bill is real simple: Don’t spend money on stupid things and don’t subsidize biased media,” Jordan said during his Thursday speech on the House floor. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) held up an Elmo doll during his comments. 

“Republicans are attacking Elmo and Sesame Street and Big Bird and Daniel Tiger,” Jeffries said.