In a decisive move long sought by conservatives, the Trump administration has reportedly successfully pushed through the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), effectively bringing an end to the government-backed funding of PBS and NPR after more than half a century.
The CPB, created by Congress in 1967, announced Friday that it would “wind down” operations following congressional approval of President Donald Trump’s $9 billion rescissions package, which included eliminating taxpayer support for public broadcasting — a perennial target for fiscal conservatives.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison in a statement. “CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
The statement marked the end of federal support for organizations that have long leaned left in their programming and editorial decisions, according to critics, while receiving roughly $500 million in public funds each since their founding.
The president welcomed the news of the defunding with unambiguous satisfaction. “HOUSE APPROVES NINE BILLION DOLLAR CUTS PACKAGE, INCLUDING ATROCIOUS NPR AND PUBLIC BROADCASTING, WHERE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR WERE WASTED,” Trump posted on Truth Social on July 18. “REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED DOING THIS FOR 40 YEARS, AND FAILED….BUT NO MORE. THIS IS BIG!!!”
The passage of the cuts represents a major conservative victory — one that Republican lawmakers have been pushing for decades, citing concerns over taxpayer money being funneled into institutions accused of political bias.
The administration’s broader rescissions package also targeted bloated foreign aid programs, another longstanding priority of Trump’s populist economic agenda.
While CPB did not specify the number of jobs to be eliminated, staff were informed Friday that the majority of positions will be dissolved by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The future of PBS and NPR remains unclear without federal support, but critics argue the time had long passed for these organizations to compete on equal footing with private media outlets — without guaranteed public subsidies. Their defenders cite educational programming and rural outreach, but conservative voices have increasingly challenged the value of publicly funded media that many see as ideologically lopsided.
For now, the dismantling of CPB marks a rare but definitive rollback of federal influence in media — one the Trump administration is heralding as a turning point in restoring fiscal sanity and reining in cultural institutions it views as out of step with American taxpayers.
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