President Trump Proposes Defunding PBS and NPR in 2019 Budget

“The Budget proposes to eliminate Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over a two year period,” according to the proposal.

“CPB grants represent a small share of the total funding for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR), which primarily rely on private donations to fund their operations,” it continues.

Mr. Trump proposed the elimination of CPB in 2017 as well, and a public outcry ensued.  The entity described itself as “one of America’s best investments.”

At that time, CPB President Patricia Harrison noted, “We will work with the new administration and Congress in raising awareness that elimination of federal funding to CPB begins the collapse of the public media system itself and the end of the essential national service.”

Responding Trump’s newest budget proposal to end federal support and subsidies for an entity many consider unduly political and biased, the CPB’s head said the cuts would hurt emergency alert systems and childhood programming, among other things.

Trump’s budget like any President’s, requires congressional approval before it becomes law.  It is highly unlikely that the President’s proposed budget would pass in tack, and CPB has survived numerous threats by prior Presidents and politicians to curtail or eliminate funding.

The President’s 2018 budget was soundly rejected, as happens to most Presidents.  The 2019 proposal increased spending overall, and again targets many programs the President and his supporters consider to be part of the large, administrative state that costs businesses money and Americans jobs through over-regulation.

Arizona Republican Senate and Trump nemesis stated that the proposal was “dead on arrival,” reviving a famous critique by liberal democrats of President Reagan’s proposed budgets.