EXCLUSIVE: Ted Cruz, Joni Ernst Team Up To Demand NPR Answer For Taxpayer-Funded Partisanship
'NPR has been ground zero for blatant bias'
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and relevant agencies to terminate federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.
While Trump's top reason for cutting off NPR and PBS was their unmistakable political bias, he also noted that government's funding of news media is "not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence."
NPR chief executive Katherine Maher apparently decided that the best way to respond to the threat of losing federal funding was to continue gaslighting the American people, characterizing Trump's executive order as an "affront to the First Amendment rights of NPR" and suggesting that her newsroom is politically neutral.
Maher — who wrote in a December 2010 NDI blog post, "Control over the flow of information in a closed society can be tantamount to control over the state" — vowed in a statement Friday to "challenge this executive order using all means available."
Less than 1% of NPR's annual operating budget comes in the form of grants directly from the CPB and other federal sources; however, numerous CPB-funded public radio stations in NPR's syndication network pay for its programming. Consolidated financial statements show that the organization secured over $96.1 million in "core and other programming fees" in 2023, $93.2 million in 2022, $90.4 million in 2021, and $92.5 million in 2020.
Despite acknowledging that "significant financial support" comes from private sources, Maher suggested the loss of federal funding would be calamitous, equating it with an attack on constitutionally protected speech rights.
'An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR.'
"This is not about balancing the federal budget. The appropriation for public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS, represents less than 0.0001% of the federal budget," wrote Maher. "The president's order is an affront to the First Amendment rights of NPR and locally owned and operated stations throughout America to produce and air programming that meets the needs of their communities. It is also an affront to the First Amendment rights of station listeners and donors who support independent news and information."
Maher noted further that Trump's "action jeopardizes the national airing of beloved programming and essential news such as NPR's iconic hourly 'Newscast,' 'Morning Edition,' and 'Tiny Desk Radio.'"
On Thursday, the White House highlighted past reports that cast doubt on whether at least one of the shows Maher singled out as "essential news" deserves that label or federal funding.
"Morning Edition" noted in a piece ahead of Independence Day in 2021 that the Declaration of Independence "is a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies." Two years earlier, the same show issued an editor's note warning that the Declaration of Independence "contains offensive language."
Maher concluded her statement by asserting that NPR has "high standards," that her colleagues seek to "present issues fairly and without bias," and that NPR "will continue to tell the stories of our country and the world with accuracy, objectivity, and fairness."
Maher continued pushing the neutrality claim Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation," telling talking head Margaret Brennan that the NPR newsroom "would really take issue" with its characterization by Trump as politically biased.
Trump is far from the only person to call out NPR's heavy political skew.
After working for 25 years at NPR, Peabody Award-winning business editor Uri Berliner noted last year that "an open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR."
'Our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that is getting in the way of finding common ground.'
"That wouldn't be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience," continued Berliner. "But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for its journalism and its business model."
Maher stressed to Brennan that she doesn't make editorial decisions at NPR and added, "We have an extraordinary Washington desk. And our people report straight down the line."
Berliner revealed that 87% of the Washington, D.C., editors and reporters at NPR were registered Democrats and none were registered Republicans.
While Maher appears to be strategically downplaying her team's bias, she might be unable to recognize their bias on account of her own. The NPR CEO revealed her remoteness from the political center when she previously:
'No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies.'
"If we were to see a claw-back of these funds, which we know is part of the conversation from a rescission standpoint, or if we were to see that the stations were no longer able to participate in their membership dues, that would be damaging," Maher told Brennan.
In his executive order, Trump emphasized that "Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage. No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize."
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The Trump administration is moving forward with its plans to cut all taxpayer funding for public broadcasting.
The New York Post reported Monday that the director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, sent a memo to Congress requesting the elimination of the funding. He is also pushing to codify other budget cuts identified by the Department of Government Efficiency.
'Since day one, the Trump Administration has targeted waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending through executive action, DOGE review, and other efforts by departments and agencies.'
The "rescissions" plan would cut off $1.1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. Additionally, it would axe $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Vought's memo accuses CPB of a "lengthy history of anti-conservative bias" and USAID of "waste, fraud, and abuse," the Post reported.
CBP has argued, "Public media in the United States is a highly efficient public-private partnership that delivers a strong return on the taxpayers' investment. For every public dollar provided, stations raise nearly seven dollars from donors, underscoring their value to the communities they serve."
Vought noted that NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher called Trump a "deranged racist" and a "fascist." He also highlighted two PBS programs that included trans-identifying characters.
"Since day one, the Trump Administration has targeted waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending through executive action, DOGE review, and other efforts by departments and agencies. Congress has expressed strong interest in supporting those efforts, and requested the Administration transmit rescissions to the Hill for swift approval," Vought wrote.
"OMB recommends the Administration respond with two proposals to cut $9.3 billion," he continued. "The first includes a rescission of $8.3 billion in wasteful foreign aid spending (out of $22 billion) that does not expire in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The second is a separate rescission of all Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — which funds the politically biased public radio and public television system."
Lawmakers have 45 days to adopt or reject the rescission plan. The White House is reportedly optimistic it will pass.
Vought stated that without the rescissions, taxpayer funds would continue to be spent on many wasteful programs, including $9.4 million for "Championing Transformative Changes in Gender Norms," $6 million for Palestinian media and civic society support, and $3 million for Iraqi "Sesame Street," to name a few.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) proposed legislation in March that, if passed, would prevent NPR and PBS from receiving taxpayer funds.
Jackson introduced the bill, No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Service Act, after a heated House Oversight subcommittee hearing with Maher and PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger, where lawmakers pressed them about their outlets' political bias. Both Maher and Kerger insisted their outlets were unbiased.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the subcommittee's chairwoman, asserted that the hearing proved NPR and PBS are "taxpayer-funded PR arms of the Democrat Party" and therefore "don't deserve the American people's hard-earned money."
"NPR and PBS hate President Trump, his supporters, and the majority of Americans who sent us a mandate in 2024. They can hate us on their own dime," Greene declared.
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Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) proposed legislation on Thursday to prevent National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service from receiving taxpayer funds.
Jackson announced the bill following a tense hearing with NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher and PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger.
'These taxpayer-funded PR arms of the Democrat Party don't deserve the American people's hard-earned money.'
The House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency questioned Maher and Kerger about the outlets' political bias, citing public remarks, partisan reporting, and gender ideology programming.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), DOGE subcommittee chairwoman, highlighted Maher's social media posts.
"You posted on X that 'America is addicted to white supremacy' — that's appalling. You publicly chastised using the phrases 'boy and girl,' which you said 'erases the language for nonbinary people,'" Greene told Maher.
Maher expressed regret for previously referring to President Donald Trump as a "deranged racist" and "sociopath." She also admitted that NPR "made a mistake" by ignoring the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
During the hearing, Greene pressed Kerger about programming that featured gender ideology and a cross-dressing man.
Maher and Kerger maintained that their respective outlets were unbiased and should continue receiving taxpayer funds, but House Republicans were unconvinced.
Jackson's proposed bill, No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Service Act, would "eliminate all federal funding" for NPR and PBS.
Jackson stated, "For decades, radical Democrats have funneled taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS under the guise of 'serving the public,' despite both organizations abandoning their founding missions to provide non-biased content and instead promoting the same radical-left propaganda as any other fake news outlet."
"If these organizations want to push partisan agendas, they do not deserve another dime of federal support," he added.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Jackson accused the outlets of being "chronically biased" and "pushing Democratic talking points under the fake banner of 'public media.'"
"It's time to cut them off and stop forcing taxpayers to pay for their liberal lies!" Jackson declared.
Greene announced that she is co-sponsoring Jackson's bill.
"As my DOGE subcommittee hearing showed, these taxpayer-funded PR arms of the Democrat Party don't deserve the American people's hard-earned money. NPR and PBS hate President Trump, his supporters, and the majority of Americans who sent us a mandate in 2024. They can hate us on their own dime," Greene said.
Additional co-sponsors of the proposed bill include Republican Reps. Jodey Arrington (Texas), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Michael Cloud (Texas), Mike Collins (Ga.), Neal Dunn (Fla.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Troy Nehls (Texas), Chip Roy (Texas), Keith Self (Texas), and Randy Weber (Texas).
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On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency grilled the heads of National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service about the outlets' political bias.
During the hearing, Republican lawmakers contended that NPR and PBS should no longer receive taxpayer funding for several reasons, highlighting the networks' partisan reporting, the nation's $36 trillion of debt, and the public's access to plentiful alternative news sources, eliminating the need for government-backed options.
'How much reparations have you personally paid?'
NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher came under fire for leftist comments she previously made online, including calling President Donald Trump a "deranged racist" and "sociopath."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the subcommittee's chairwoman, told Maher, "You posted on X that 'America is addicted to white supremacy' — that's appalling. You publicly chastised using the phrases 'boy and girl,' which you said 'erases the language for nonbinary people.'"
Greene reminded Maher that taxpayers who voted for Trump also contributed to the federal funds NPR receives.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) also came prepared with receipts of Maher's far-left comments.
"Do you think that white people should pay reparations?" Gill asked.
"I have never said that, sir," Maher replied.
"Yes, you did. You said it in January of 2020. You tweeted, 'Yes, the North, yes all of us, yes America. Yes, our original collective sin and unpaid debt. Yes, reparations. Yes, on this day,'" Gill continued.
Maher argued that it was not a reference to financial reparations.
"I think it was just a reference to the idea that we all owe much to the people who came before us," she stated.
"That's a bizarre way to frame what you tweeted," Gill replied. "How much reparations have you personally paid?"
Maher stated she had not paid any.
"Okay. Just for everybody else?" Gills asked. "Seems to be what you're suggesting."
At one point during the hearing, Maher expressed "regret" for her comments about Trump.
"I would not tweet them again today. They represented a time where I was reflecting on something that I believed that the president had said rather than who he is. I don't presume that anyone is a racist," Maher stated.
Meanwhile, Democrats' counter-argument strategy primarily included accusing Republicans of attacking free speech and "Sesame Street."
Several subcommittee Democrats appeared less interested in participating earnestly in the hearing, instead launching into absurd and irrelevant lines of questioning about Elmo and Big Bird.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) kicked off his opening statement by accusing the subcommittee of becoming politicized. He used most of his allotted time to attack the Trump administration about the recent Signal group chat leak.
"I'm sad to see that this once-proud committee … has now stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater to hold a hearing to go after the likes of Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Arthur the Aardvark. All for the unforgivable sin of teaching the alphabet to low-income families' children and providing accessible local news and programming," Lynch stated.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) fired off an extraneous line of questioning, arguing that the public funding hearing was not "serious."
Garcia asked PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger, "The American people want to know, is Elmo now, or has he ever been, a member of the Communist Party of the United States?"
Rep. Gregorio Casar (D-Texas) engaged in similar antics, asking Heritage Foundation senior fellow Michael Gonzalez about "Sesame Street" characters.
"To your knowledge, has Miss Piggy ever been caught trying to funnel billions of dollars in government contracts to herself?" Casar asked.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) argued that pulling taxpayer funding from NPR and PBS would threaten free speech and the safety of rural Americans.
She claimed that Republican lawmakers "don't care about public safety, they don't care about emergency management, and they don't care about free speech."
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) argued that Democratic lawmakers have "viciously and vehemently" supported the funding for NPR and PBS because the outlets have "become a propaganda wing" for the party.
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National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service are kept afloat with the help of taxpayer dollars. NPR has gone so far as to claim that "federal funding is essential to public radio's service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR."
The media outfits' unmistakable ideological bias and imbalanced coverage in recent decades have prompted a steady stream of calls to defund both organizations or perhaps even to close the fountainhead of most of their taxpayer funding, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — a move that would require lawmakers to revisit the Communications Act of 1934 and its amendments.
Following the re-election of President Donald Trump, who has characterized NPR as a scam and whose first administration sought to cut funding for the CPB, there has been mounting pressure both to ascertain whether NPR, PBS, and their respective member stations have violated federal bylaws and to spare American taxpayers from having to bankroll leftist propaganda.
Blaze News reviewed the media outfits' recent history of partisan hackery and reached out to a top critic of public broadcasting as well as to lawmakers involved in holding the taxpayer-funded media outfits accountable. It appears that to ensure no partisan media outfit is subsidized at taxpayers' expense, the government may have to get out of the business of public broadcasting altogether.
NPR, a beneficiary of National Endowment for the Arts grants, claims that less than 1% of its annual operating budget comes in the form of grants directly from the CPB — which has an operating budget of $545 million for fiscal year 2025 — and other federal sources.
The outfit, which operates as a syndicator to a network of well over 1,000 public radio stations, has acknowledged, however, that multitudes of public radio stations that receive grants directly from the CPB use the funds to "pay NPR and other public radio producers for their programming."
According to consolidated financial statements, the organization secured over $96.1 million in "core and other programming fees" in 2023, $93.2 million in 2022, $90.4 million in in 2021, and $92.5 million in 2020.
"These station programming fees are one of NPR's primary sources of revenue," noted the media outfit. "The loss of federal funding would undermine the stations' ability to pay NPR for programming, thereby weakening the institution."
Like NPR, public TV stations that receive CPB funding pay significant programming dues to PBS.
According to the public TV broadcaster, its flagship "News Hour" program, for instance, receives roughly 35% of its "annual funding/budget from CPB and PBS via national programming funds — a combination of CPB appropriation funds and annual programming dues paid to PBS by stations re-allocated to programs like ours."
A spokesman for PBS, which has over 330 member television stations, recently indicated that the organization receives 16% of its funding directly from the federal government each year.
While neither NPR nor PBS has done a good job hiding its political leanings, Uri Berliner, a Peabody Award-winning senior business editor who worked at NPR for 25 years, helped shine a spotlight last year on just how slanted public broadcasting has become, slamming NPR specifically in an opinion piece for mindlessly advancing Democratic propaganda and altogether giving up on journalistic independence.
Berliner, the son of an LGBT activist and a grandson of Holocaust victims, made clear at the outset he was no rightist, characterizing himself instead as something akin to the stereotypical NPR listener, "an EV-driving, Wordle-playing, tote bag-carrying coastal elite."
While acknowledging the media outfit’s long-standing "liberal bent," Berliner noted that NPR had effectively transformed into a Democratic propaganda machine, working vigorously to "damage or topple Trump's presidency," in part by "hitch[ing] our wagon to Trump's most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff," and amplifying the Russia collusion hoax.
Berliner — who discovered that 87% of NPR’s Washington, D.C., editors and reporters were registered Democrats and that none were registered as Republicans — hammered NPR further for gaslighting Americans about the likely origins of COVID-19, for turning a blind eye to the Hunter Biden laptop scandal and its characterization of the damning story as a "pure distraction," and over its obsession with race.
While NPR's objectivity had been criticized for decades, Berliner suggested that "independent journalism" at the company really began to slip under former CEO John Lansing, who apparently used George Floyd's death as an excuse to center race and identity in everything the company did while eliminating any remaining "viewpoint diversity."
Berliner indicated that things worsened under the current CEO, Katherine Maher, a longtime BLM supporter who previously helped transform Wikipedia into a repository of leftist propaganda, publicly stated, "Donald Trump is a racist," and suggested that "our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that is getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done."
After Maher said that Berliner had been "profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning" for daring to question the neutrality and integrity of taxpayer-funded propagandists, NPR suspended him. The journalist resigned shortly thereafter.
PBS may not have a Berliner-caliber whistleblower to call its own, but it is certainly no better.
The Media Research Center conducted a study from June 1, 2023, to Nov. 30, 2024, analyzing political labels used by anchors, reporters, and contributors on PBS' "News Hour." PBS staff apparently threw around the term "far right" or some variation thereof 162 times but used the term "far left" only six times.
Reporters reflexively deemed social conservatives and Trump-adjacent Republicans as "extreme" or "extremists."
'I understand the importance of nonpartisan, balanced media coverage.'
While numerous reporters and guests liberally applied the "fascist" label to Trump or his polices, PBS reportedly clamped down on characterizations of failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris and other Democrats as Marxists or communists, writing them off as "slurs."
In another study published last year, the MRC tallied every comment made by PBS journalists during the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Of the 191 minutes of PBS commentary on the Republican National Convention, 72% of opinionated comments were reportedly negative and only 28% were positive.
For instance, when it came to the RNC, "News Hour" co-anchor Amna Nawaz exhibited no pretense of neutrality, accusing Republicans of "echoing some white supremacist notions" and veering "into outright racism."
The DNC coverage was a different story altogether. Not only did PBS air more speeches and footage from the Democratic convention than for the Republican convention, the co-anchors salivated over the speakers.
Geoff Bennett said that the "elevation and evolution" of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was "so striking because she has found a way to blend populism and pragmatism and blend protest and power."
Not to be outdone by her co-anchor's fawning over AOC, Nawaz stated, "We know we're hearing a lot of this messaging around the joyful warriors that are Harris and Walz, which is really a stark contrast to what we saw on the Republican side."
There have been numerous efforts in recent years to defund NPR, defund PBS, and/or shutter the CPB.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), for instance, took aim at both NPR and PBS with a bill in March 2023 titled the No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Services Act. By the following year, the bill had 13 co-sponsors but did not go the distance.
Jackson noted that whereas at the time of the media outfits' initial receipt of federal funds, the understanding was that their content "would remain unbiased and benefit every American," it has become "obvious that NPR and PBS have abandoned their founding principles."
Following Berliner's suspension, Republican lawmakers narrowed their focus and pushed multiple bills aimed specifically at kneecapping NPR.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), for instance, introduced the Defund NPR Act of 2024, a piece of legislation co-sponsored by 16 other Republicans that would have prohibited federal funding to NPR or to any successor organization.
"As a former newspaper owner and publisher, I understand the importance of nonpartisan, balanced media coverage and have seen firsthand the left-wing bias in our news media," Tenney said at the time. "NPR is using American taxpayer dollars to manipulate the news and lie to the American people on behalf of a political agenda."
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, tried something different in December, introducing the No Propaganda Act, which would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit federal funding for the CPB. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) introduced a corresponding bill in the House.
Kennedy cast doubt on whether the over $15 billion already blown by Congress on the CPB has actually gone toward satisfying the organization's stated goal of educating, informing, fostering curiosity, and promoting civil discourse essential to American society, suggesting that instead it has merely bankrolled "Big Brother's propaganda outlet."
"The Corporation for Public Broadcasting refuses to provide Louisianans and Americans with fair, unbiased content," said Kennedy. "It wastes taxpayer dollars on slanted coverage to advance a leftist political agenda."
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who has long written about the need to defund public broadcasting, emphasized to Blaze News that given the option of whether to defund the propaganda outfits or to defund the CPB altogether, the latter choice is optimal, although he'd personally seek to go farther.
Gonzalez, who indicated that no attempt at mending could justify keeping taxpayers on the hook for public broadcasting, said that Kennedy "going after the CPB is the right approach."
"I would prefer dissolving it," continued Gonzalez. "You can defund the CPB, but that only delays the problem. That's not a permanent solution."
'For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS.'
While Gonzalez anticipates that the liberal media will continue to circle the wagons and gripe over the potential loss of taxpayer cash to fellow travelers, he suggested that those open to defunding public broadcasting should not lose sight of NPR's and PBS' long-standing efforts to antagonize at least half the population..
"My liberal friends say, 'Look, this is important. We need more journalism, not less journalism.' I don’t, first of all, think [NPR and PBS] are going to go away, but if they go away, I don’t care," said Gonzalez. "Second of all, you have to know what they're doing."
Gonzalez noted that NPR and PBS "gave up any attempt at appearing impartial or objective in any way," adding that in the case of NPR, the choice of Maher as CEO was a crystal-clear message that things won't soon change for the better.
"Maher, on the record, is calling Trump racist. She was an enthusiastic supporter of Kamala Harris," said Gonzalez. "She's on the record as saying the First Amendment and our obsession with truth is getting in the way of consensus. Well, gee — that's the CEO of NPR. Anything else you need to know?"
Neither NPR nor PBS responded to Blaze News' request for comment by deadline.
There is clearly blood in the water.
The Federal Communications Commission has public broadcasting in its sights, as does the new House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
On Jan. 29, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the commission's enforcement bureau was opening an investigation into the airing of NPR and PBS programming across their various broadcast member stations.
Carr expressed concern that the two media outfits might be in violation of federal law by airing commercials. While apparently concerned that NPR and PBS member stations might be testing the boundaries of their federal noncommercial authorizations, Carr made no secret that the investigation could furnish lawmakers with further justification to pull the plug on the whole project.
"Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming," wrote Carr. "For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS, given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967."
'We shouldn't be taxing the American people to fund radically left-wing propaganda.'
"To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for-profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements, then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars," added Carr.
On Feb. 3, Greene invited the CEOs from NPR and PBS to testify at a hearing in March regarding their biased news coverage. Both Katherine Maher and Paula Kerger were notified that the hearing constitutes an opportunity to explain why they feel they deserve to continue receiving federal funds.
The subcommittee said in a release, "NPR and PBS have repeatedly undermined public trust by ignoring stories that were damaging to the Biden administration, dismissing genuine calls for balanced reporting, and pushing partisan coverage. As stewards of tax dollars, NPR and PBS have an obligation to provide objective and accurate coverage that serves all Americans."
When asked about the perceived need to defund NPR and PBS and the significance of doing so, a spokesman for Greene told Blaze News that the congresswoman "is looking forward to the hearing and questioning the heads of these publicly funded media outlets, and her letters speak for themselves."
In Greene's letters to the CEOs of the liberal media outfits, she noted on both occasions that as organizations that receive federal funds through their member stations, they should provide reporting that serves "the entire public, not just a narrow slice of like-minded individuals and ideological interest groups."
When asked about the prospect of defunding NPR and PBS or dissolving the CPB altogether, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), a member of the DOGE subcommittee, told Blaze News in a statement, "I fully support defunding these organizations and am exploring legislative options to ensure public funds are spent responsibly."
"We shouldn't be taxing the American people to fund radically left-wing propaganda," continued Gill. "Nothing about NPR or PBS is neutral, and taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to bankroll news organizations that hate them and everything they stand for."
While NPR appears set in its ways, PBS — having seen the writing on the wall — appears eager to placate some of its harshest critics by doing the bare minimum: its lawful obligation.
A PBS spokesman confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter on Feb. 10 that the organization had shuttered its race-obsessed DEI office in order to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order "ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preference."
"The staff members who served in that office are leaving PBS. We will continue to adhere to our mission and values. PBS will continue to reflect all of America and remain a welcoming place for everyone," the spokesman said in a statement.
While it was apparently easy to shutter the DEI office and kick to the curb Cecilia Loving, the organization's senior vice president of DEI, eliminating political bias at PBS and NPR would be a herculean feat with no promise of a lasting solution.
When condemning the use of taxpayer funds for public broadcasting during the first Trump administration, Mike Gonzalez appealed to Thomas Jefferson to help make his point, quoting the third president as saying, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagations of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.
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