Latest news with #CorporationForPublicBroadcasting
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ken Burns Condemns Republican Plan to Defund PBS: ‘I Couldn't Do Any of My Films Without Them'
With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Ken Burns is set to release a six-part series on the American Revolution this November. But it could be premiering on a PBS deprived of federal funding by Donald Trump and Republicans. In an interview with 'CBS Sunday Morning' set to air this weekend and taped at Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, Burns praised PBS as essential to both his filmmaking career and America as a whole after the GOP-controlled House of Representatives voted to strip the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of $1.1 billion over the next two years after the funds were approved by a previous Congress. More from TheWrap Jensen Ackles Still Has a Surprising Connection to 'Supernatural' Costar Jared Padalecki Kelly Clarkson Postpones Vegas Residency Opening to Prevent 'Serious Damage' to Her Voice 'My Life With the Walter Boys' Sets Season 2 Premiere Date, Teases First Look Images 'Reasonable Doubt' Season 3 Sets September Premiere on Hulu 'I couldn't do any of the films I've done without them being on PBS. I could go into a streaming service or a premium cable tomorrow and get every one of the millions of dollars it took to do this in one pitch, but they wouldn't give me 10 years. They want it in a year or a year and a half, and that's the deal. I can't do that,' he told CBS' John Dickerson. Burns pointed out that the majority of PBS' 330 affiliates serve largely rural areas, some of which could be at risk without federal funding. PBS and National Public Radio have been longtime targets of conservative derision for their perceived liberal bias even though, as Burns pointed out, conservative icon William F. Buckley hosted the show 'Firing Line' on PBS from 1966 to 1999. 'They also have not only our good children's and prime time stuff, they have classroom on the air continuing education, homeland security, crop reports, weather emergency information. That we're going to take away?' he said. In a wide-ranging interview in which Burns reflected on the American Revolution, his relationship with the history of the United States, and Donald Trump's plans for America's 250th anniversary, Burns also discussed what he believes the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence that the 'pursuit of happiness' is one of humanity's 'unalienable rights.' 'The Pursuit of Happiness is not the acquisition of things in a marketplace of objects, but lifelong learning in a marketplace of ideas. That's what the founders said, to be virtuous, to live a virtuous life, to continually educate yourself, is what was required to sustain this republic and I think that's what we've gotten away from. Everything is sort of all individualized. We're all free agents. We don't realize that freedom, the thing that we tout, is not just what I want, but also that's intention with what we need,' he said. The post Ken Burns Condemns Republican Plan to Defund PBS: 'I Couldn't Do Any of My Films Without Them' appeared first on TheWrap.
New York Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump's $1.1 Billion Public Broadcasting Clawback Faces Pushback in the Senate
Dakota Talk Radio in the tiny town of Lake Andes, S.D., is one of dozens of rural radio stations across the United States that could see more than half of its budget vanish. The station in Unalakleet, Alaska, a remote village in the western Arctic, could lose more than 90 percent of its funding. And the sole station broadcasting to the Aaniiih and Nakoda Native nations in Harlem, Mont., stands to have its entire budget obliterated. President Trump's plan to claw back $9 billion in spending already approved by Congress, which Republicans pushed through the House this week and is pending in the Senate, would slash $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The organization funds more than 1,500 public television and radio stations across the country, including NPR and PBS stations. Many of those stations are in red districts and states, and the cuts have prompted substantial pushback from Republicans, imperiling the bill and highlighting a broader fight between an administration bent on slashing federal funding and the lawmakers confronting the impact of those cuts. G.O.P. opposition to the public broadcasting cuts helped to nearly sink the bill in the House on Thursday, when Speaker Mike Johnson had to wrangle two Republicans on the floor to change their 'no' votes. Now, as the Senate prepares to take it up, Republicans in that chamber are raising the same concerns. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
11-06-2025
- Business
- Fox News
House advances Trump's $9.4B spending cuts package targeting NPR, PBS, USAID to House-wide vote
President Donald Trump's $9.4 billion spending cuts package survived a key hurdle on Wednesday afternoon, setting the measure up for a final House-wide vote later this week. Trump's proposal, which was introduced as legislation by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., would cut $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and just over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting distributes federal funding to NPR and PBS. The House of Representatives made a procedural motion known as a "rule vote," which passed mostly along party lines. The rule passing now allows for debate on the $9.4 billion spending cut measure, followed by a final House-wide vote. But it's not atypical for House leaders to include unrelated measures in rule votes, as is the case with the spending cuts package – House GOP leaders included a provision with minor changes to Trump's "one big, beautiful bill" to account for the Senate needing to amend the bill. That latter piece of legislation, a vast tax and immigration bill, is moving through the budget reconciliation process. By dropping the Senate's threshold for advancement from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to skirt the minority – in this case, Democrats – on vast pieces of legislation, provided they adhere to a specific set of budgetary rules. House GOP leaders said they needed to make the recent changes to the bill to better adhere to the Senate's "Byrd Bath," when the Senate parliamentarian reviews the bill and removes anything not adhering to reconciliation guidelines. Whereas that deals with the government's mandatory spending processes that are more difficult to amend, the $9.4 billion spending cuts package tackles discretionary spending that Congress controls every year. It's called a "rescissions package," which is a formal proposal by the White House to claw back federal funds already allocated for the current fiscal year. Like reconciliation, the mechanism allows for a 51-vote majority in the Senate rather than 60. Congress has 45 days to consider it, or it is deemed rejected. Republican leaders have held up this rescissions package as the first step to codifying the billions of dollars of government waste identified by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump allies have also made clear they view this first package as a test of what kind of cuts congressional Republicans can stomach. And while the rule vote was expected to pass, the bill could have trouble ahead of its expected Thursday afternoon vote. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., pointed out in a bipartisan statement that the media funding represents less than 0.01% of the federal budget and said taking that money away would "dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans." Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters on Tuesday that he got assurances that USAID cuts would exclude critical medical funding. "I feel better than what I was hearing last week, that was gonna be a total cut," he said, without revealing whether he would support the bill.
Fox News
11-06-2025
- Business
- Fox News
House passes Trump's $9.4B spending cuts package targeting NPR, PBS, USAID
President Donald Trump's $9.4 billion spending cuts package survived a key hurdle on Wednesday afternoon, setting the measure up for a final House-wide vote later this week. Trump's proposal, which was introduced as legislation by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., would cut $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and just over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting distributes federal funding to NPR and PBS. The House of Representatives made a procedural motion known as a "rule vote," which passed mostly along party lines. The rule passing now allows for debate on the $9.4 billion spending cut measure, followed by a final House-wide vote. But it's not atypical for House leaders to include unrelated measures in rule votes, as is the case with the spending cuts package – House GOP leaders included a provision with minor changes to Trump's "one big, beautiful bill" to account for the Senate needing to amend the bill. That latter piece of legislation, a vast tax and immigration bill, is moving through the budget reconciliation process. By dropping the Senate's threshold for advancement from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party in power to skirt the minority – in this case, Democrats – on vast pieces of legislation, provided they adhere to a specific set of budgetary rules. House GOP leaders said they needed to make the recent changes to the bill to better adhere to the Senate's "Byrd Bath," when the Senate parliamentarian reviews the bill and removes anything not adhering to reconciliation guidelines. Whereas that deals with the government's mandatory spending processes that are more difficult to amend, the $9.4 billion spending cuts package tackles discretionary spending that Congress controls every year. It's called a "rescissions package," which is a formal proposal by the White House to claw back federal funds already allocated for the current fiscal year. Like reconciliation, the mechanism allows for a 51-vote majority in the Senate rather than 60. Congress has 45 days to consider it, or it is deemed rejected. Republican leaders have held up this rescissions package as the first step to codifying the billions of dollars of government waste identified by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump allies have also made clear they view this first package as a test of what kind of cuts congressional Republicans can stomach. And while the rule vote was expected to pass, the bill could have trouble ahead of its expected Thursday afternoon vote. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., pointed out in a bipartisan statement that the media funding represents less than 0.01% of the federal budget and said taking that money away would "dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans." Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters on Tuesday that he got assurances that USAID cuts would exclude critical medical funding. "I feel better than what I was hearing last week, that was gonna be a total cut," he said, without revealing whether he would support the bill.
RNZ News
01-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Public Broadcasting Service sues Trump to reverse funding cuts
By Jonathan Stempel , Reuters US President Donald Trump takes questions outside the West Wing of White House in Washington, DC, on 8 May 2025. File photo. Photo: JIM WATSON Public Broadcasting Service has sued Donald Trump over the US president's executive order to cut its federal funding , calling it an unconstitutional attack that would "upend public television". In a complaint filed on Friday (local time) in the Washington, DC federal court, PBS and a public TV station in Minnesota said Trump's order violated the US Constitution's First Amendment by making the president the "arbiter" of programming content, including by attempting to defund PBS. The 1 May order "makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS, because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech", PBS said. "That is blatant viewpoint discrimination." Its programming has included Sesame Street , Mister Rogers' Neighborhood , Frontline and several Ken Burns documentaries, including The Civil War . Member stations also broadcast public affairs shows, like Washington Week. Trump's order demanded that the taxpayer-backed Corporation for Public Broadcasting cut federal funding to PBS and NPR, short for National Public Radio. All three entities are nonprofits. PBS said the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides 16 percent of its US$373.4 million annual budget. It also said the funding ban would apply to local member stations, which provide 61 percent of its budget through dues, including millions of dollars in federal funds. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was "creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime. Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS". NPR filed its own lawsuit on 27 May to block Trump's order. Formed in 1969, PBS has 336 member stations, including the plaintiff Lakeland PBS, which serves about 490,000 people in northern and central Minnesota. The executive order was part of Trump's effort to sanction entities he believed were opposed to his political agenda. Trump said that, by funding PBS and NPR, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ignored Americans' right to expect that taxpayer dollars going to public broadcasting "fund only fair, accurate, unbiased and nonpartisan news coverage". The White House separately accused PBS and NPR of using taxpayer money to spread "radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news'". In its complaint, PBS said Trump's order "smacks of retaliation for, among other things, perceived political slights in news coverage". The Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives funding from Congress two years in advance to shield it from political interference. It sued Trump last month, after he sought to fire three of its five board members. The case is Public Broadcasting Service et al v Trump et al, US District Court, District of Columbia, No. 25-01722. - Reuters
