They say talk is cheap, and in the case of defunding NPR and PBS, that has oftentimes been the case as we've seen and heard a lot of talk about it over the years from Republicans in Congress but with little to nothing to show for it.
But in the era of Trump 2.0, it's sounding like more than just talk this time around, with President Donald Trump himself getting loud about it and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) pairing up with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to introduce the "Defund Government Sponsored Propaganda Act" in February, which takes specific aim at NPR and PBS.
To make matters worse for them, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened an investigation into both organizations in late January on grounds that they "could be violating federal law by airing commercials." FCC Chairman Brendan Carr even noted in the letter he wrote to them that it was his opinion they should have been defunded long ago.
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With all of that in mind, we turn to one of the best when it comes to explaining the good, bad, and the ugly about what's going on in America, what needs to be done and what's at stake if we don't do the right thing in response: the national treasure known as Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).
Kennedy, as we previously reported, has taken to the floor of the Senate a few times this month to lay out receipt after receipt to prove that neither of them deserves one more dime of government funding, showing numerous headlines alone that denoted opinion "journalism" rather than balanced reporting.
In the one below, which he shared to his Twitter page Thursday, he pointed out that though NPR and PBS had a right to exist and publish their biased pieces, they didn't have a right to taxpayer funding:
“We are running $36 trillion in debt. This is disgraceful in 2025. It is disgraceful whether it is left-of-center opinion journalism or right-of-center opinion journalism. It is disgraceful to the American people to have to fund this rot. It doesn’t mean the rot doesn’t have a right to exist, but they don’t have a right to taxpayer money.”
Watch:
During that same speech, Kennedy touted a bill similar to the one introduced by Tenney and Lee that he had introduced on the Senate side earlier this month and which Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) introduced on the House side. It's called the "No Propaganda Act," which they say would "defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)."
"The bill would block federal funding for the CPB, which funnels taxpayer dollars to National Public Radio (NPR), because of the organization’s chronically biased content," was also noted in the official announcement.
The bill's text can be read here (PDF).
Seeing as discussions about cutting waste and defunding things we shouldn't be funding were turned into action with the creation of DOGE, excitement and hope is in the air over the possibility that at long last, the American taxpayer will no longer be forced to pay for the privilege of having their intellegence repeatedly insulted - at least from the likes of PBS and NPR, anyway.
Congress has the authority to yank their public funding, and there are at least two bills on the table, introduced by Republicans in the House and Senate, that can make this happen. All we need is for the GOP House and Senate majorities to do what is long overdue and finally send a bill to our Republican president to once and for all defund PBS and NPR.