GOP lawmaker moves to defund NPR, PBS after hearing

After a hearing before the House DOGE subcommittee on Wednesday, GOP lawmakers are moving to defund both the Public Broadcasting Corporation and National Public Radio. The CEOs of both networks sat for the hearing, facing questions about network bias, their own biases, and how they see the networks as useful and essential in an age of decentralized media offerings.

Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas planned to introduce the bill, entitled “No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Services Act” on Thursday, saying that the NPR and PBS have both been “pushing Democrat talking points under the fake banner of ‘public media,'” per reporting from Fox News. “Hardworking Americans are sick of footing the bill,” he said, “it’s time to cut them off and stop forcing taxpayers to pay for their liberal lies.”

PBS CEO Paula Kerger, who has helmed the network for 19 years, answered questions about the left-leaning bias at her network. These included concerns that the network had covered up President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, which became apparent to all Americans when he stood for a debate against President Donald Trump in June 2024. After that disaster, many blamed media for having kept a lid on the problem.

NPR CEO Katherine Maher had to answer not only for her own tweets, many of which were anti-white though she herself is white, but also for the network’s blatant refusal to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. NPR went even further at the time, claiming that the story was fake or some kind of Russian disinformation. Maher said that, while she was not in charge at the time, the network regrets that error.

Both outlets have a plethora of Democrat and liberal commentators and editors but no Republicans. The two CEOs detailed the reasons they believe their outlets should continue to receive public funds, including their reach into communities that lack sufficient broadband to fully take advantage of the online offerings of diversified media and the networks’ ability to bring local news, including emergency broadcasts, to far-flung locales.

Democrats who questioned the CEOs during the hearing spent a great deal of time complaining about the Trump administration’s use of the Signal messaging app to discuss an attack on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea or to joke around about Elmo, Big Bird, and other classic PBS characters.

Georgia’s Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who chairs the DOGE subcommittee, issued a scathing statement in which she said the networks were “out of touch with every day Americans.” 

“I think from what we have heard here today, the American people will not continue to allow such propaganda to be funded through the federal government with their hard-earned tax dollars,” she said.