Politics

JUST IN: GOP Launches Bid To Defund NPR, PBS After Bruising House Hearing

Published

4 days ago

March 27, 2025

House Republicans wasted no time turning a viral congressional hearing into legislative action Thursday, as Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) introduced a bill to fully defund NPR and PBS, calling the publicly funded outlets “taxpayer-funded propaganda machines for the radical left.”

The move follows a bruising House Subcommittee on Government Efficiency hearing Wednesday, where NPR CEO Katherine Maher faced blistering criticism from GOP lawmakers who accused the organization of operating with deep-seated liberal bias while being bankrolled by the American public.

Jackson’s bill — titled the “No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Services Act” or simply the “NPR and PBS Act” — seeks to eliminate all direct and indirect federal funding for both NPR and PBS. “Hardworking Americans are sick of footing the bill,” Jackson told Fox News Digital. “It’s time to cut them off and stop forcing taxpayers to pay for their liberal lies!”

“Though NPR and PBS were originally founded to produce non-biased, informational and educational content, the outlets have since turned into taxpayer-funded propaganda machines for the radical left,” he added.

16 November 2023; Katherine Maher, CEO, Web Summit, on Women in Tech Stage during day three of Web Summit 2023 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Harry Murphy/Web Summit via Sportsfile

The bill comes after Maher struggled to answer questions during a viral six-minute exchange with Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) on Thursday, who grilled her on NPR’s decision to ignore the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election. Maher admitted, “NPR acknowledges we were mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively or sooner.”

The hearing also reignited scrutiny over NPR’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cloud pointed to the network’s early dismissal of the lab leak theory, which has since become the dominant hypothesis among U.S. intelligence agencies.

Maher responded, “We recognize our reporting at the time, but we recognize that the new CIA evidence is worthy of coverage and have covered it.”

The public lashing followed revelations from former NPR senior editor Uri Berliner, who was suspended in 2024 after publishing an essay accusing the network of suppressing dissenting viewpoints and embracing a rigidly progressive worldview. Berliner’s piece sent shockwaves through the media industry and became a rallying cry for critics who say NPR and PBS are no longer fit for taxpayer support.

Trump, who weighed in after the hearing, said he’d be “honored” to see both NPR and PBS shut down, blasting them as “very unfair” and “very biased.”

WASHINGTON, DC – March 22, 2024: U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.) runs out of the Capitol following a vote to keep the government funded until September 30.

“They spend more money than any other network of its type ever conceived, so the kind of money that’s being wasted, and it’s a very biased view, you know that better than anybody,” Trump previously said. “And I’d be honored to see it end.”

Jackson’s office echoed that sentiment, calling NPR and PBS a “messaging arm for woke, radical Democrats.”

If passed, the NPR and PBS Act would mark a dramatic shift in public broadcasting policy — and a major win for Republicans fed up with what they see as ideological activism dressed up as journalism.