The Rescission Bill that Defunded Public Media

July 21st, 2025
Jana Schodzinski

On July 18, the House approved the White House’s $9 billion rescissions bill, cutting all federal funding for public media. This includes NPR, PBS and all of their member stations. Following the vote, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) will lose over $1.1 billion in direct funding. This has major consequences, as the CPB serves as the primary federal fund transferer for public media such as NPR and PBS. The rescission will begin on October 1, 2025, and affect fiscal years 2026 and 2027 as well.

The bill, known as the Rescissions Act of 2025, passed with a narrow margin of 216-213. All but two Republicans voted in the affirmation, those being Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Turner of Ohio. Though the bill is primarily known for its impact on public media, it also cuts about $7 billion in foreign aid. In fact, the only amendment to pass during the House’s “vote-a-rama” was one to protect PEPFAR, the Bush Administration's US AIDS initiative. The bill has not yet been officially signed into law.

Though NPR is one of the two main stations impacted by the bill, federal funding accounts for only about 2% of its total revenue. It is crucial to note that this is because federal revenue is primarily used for its local stations, accounting for roughly 10% of their funding. Meanwhile, over 15% of PBS’ funding comes from the federal government, with the rest primarily coming from individual donations. Since PBS is more reliant on federal funding than NPR, it also puts local stations at risk, especially rural ones. In fact, over 70% of CPB funding is directed toward local stations.

Lawmakers are split on the bill: specifically, the long-term impacts it will inevitably cause. Alma Adams of North Carolina, for instance, mentioned the need for public media in times of extreme weather and natural disasters.

“When Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina last year, public broadcasting was there when traditional communications failed. Widespread power, cellular and internet outages meant that for thousands of North Carolinians, public radio was how they received their news,” Adams said.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was not shy in celebrating the bill’s passing. Immediately after the vote, he told reporters, “The Republican Party and President Trump and everybody that works on our side have promised fiscal responsibility and fiscal discipline, and we’re delivering on those promises once again tonight.”

The bill will go into effect in less than three months. Meanwhile, as the CPB grasps for ways to fill its newfound funding gap, another rescissions package is allegedly on its way to Capitol Hill.

Extemp Analysis by: Ty Tan

Question: Can public media survive Trump’s massive funding cuts?

AGD: I would give an AGD about Trump, or make a heart story about our childhood heroes going away.

Background: I would focus your background to be simple, surrounding this idea of wider Trump cuts and how public media is trying to survive. I would say:

NPR and PBS / other Public Media before Trump
How Trump is cutting them
The future of NPR and PBS and their attempts to survive

Answer: Yes, by leveraging their resources

Diversifying their funding
History of Resilience
Uplifting Local Funding

Analysis + Concluding Thoughts

Public media has a very strong survival in the US, and their resilience likely means they can persist. The first point would talk about how NPR and PBS can survive because of their diversified funding. The second point can talk about how these public media organizations have gotten through past events. For the last point, I would talk about how NPR and PBS can work on their local media companies to keep them alive by cooperating with local stations. Since local stations get most of their money from Federal funding, they’re the people that need to diversify and change their ways the most.

Happy extemping!