Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy's ability to turn a phrase in hilarious fashion has become legendary. The witty senator didn't disappoint on Thursday as he ripped into the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and called on Congress to stop funding all public broadcasting (emphasis, mine).
President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is looking for fat to trim. As far as I’m concerned, this gravy train – this gravy train with biscuit wheels called the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – is the perfect example of a project the American people no longer need and should not fund.
After providing examples of blatantly biased headlines and slanted content published by National Public Radio (NPR), Kennedy said he wasn’t trying to censor the news outlets, but that it's “immoral” to force taxpayers to fund them.
I’m all for this, if that’s what these outlets want to do. But, I’m not for taking $500 million every single year and giving it to these stations (CPB) to the exclusion of everybody else. That’s immoral.
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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.
Is there any doubt? As NewsBusters' Executive Editor Tim Graham wrote, on Thursday, in a column titled "NPR Is National Public Relations for the War on Trump":
At the top of every hour, hundreds of taxpayer-subsidized National Public Radio stations in 50 states transmit leftist public relations, badly disguised as news. You can get talking points jammed in your ear on your rush-hour commute.
Nobody is allowed to question the concept of “systemic racism” on NPR. They’re deeply invested in that ideology. It’s why NPR favors describing race riots against cops as “rebellions.”
Left-wing media outlets wage war on Trump’s takedown of “diversity, equity and inclusion” campaigns, which are horribly named. The left doesn’t want any diversity or inclusion that allows any dissenting space for their opponents, and “equity” is a code word for discrimination in favor of the “marginalized” groups.
The half of the country that voted for Trump shouldn’t have to support this clearly hostile radio network with our tax dollars. Lambda Legal and all the other leftists should pony up for NPR’s supine press releases, since NPR’s “newscasts” aren’t diverse or inclusive enough for conservatives.
Every word of the above, true. Imagine the histrionics on the left if a conservative public broadcasting system existed. I'll just leave that here for your musing.
Anyway, Kennedy also highlighted some of the ways NPR has spent the billions of dollars that taxpayers have been forced to give it, including:
Since 1970, the United States Congress has given NPR more than $14.5 billion. With all those taxpayer dollars, NPR bought a $201 million office space just up the road from the Capitol. It’s swell office space, two hundred million bucks’ worth...
NPR pays its hosts as much as $532,000 a year. It pays its Chief Diversity Officer $320,000 a year. It’s pretty good work, if you can get it.
I often write "You can't make it up — the left just did." Only in this case, not even the left made it up; the Democrat Party's grip on the left-wing media is only enhanced by the ridiculous taxpayer funding of public broadcasting.
MORE PUBLIC BROADCASTING NONSENSE:
PBS Waxes Idiotic, Claims Trump Win Proves US 'Acceptance of Authoritarian Leadership'
NPR CEO Defends Taxpayer-Supported Network's Coverage, Culture — It's a Complete Farce
It's way past time to stop the gravy train — biscuit wheels and all. Besides, the Democrat Party should pay for its own propaganda.
For your viewing pleasure, here's Sen. Kennedy's complete presentation:
And as RedState wrote on Tuesday, DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) reported that the Treasury Department under former President Joe Biden did not enforce a tracking code, making it "almost impossible" to trace around $4.7 trillion in federal payments.
READ MORE:
The tracking code in question is the Treasury Account Symbol (TAS) identification code. According to the Bureau Fiscal of Service, the codes — assigned by the Treasury Department, in collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) — serve to track financial transactions and data.
All federal government financial transactions are classified by TAS for reporting to the Treasury and OMB.
In a Monday post on X, formerly Twitter, DOGE said that within the federal government, the TAS field was optional for about $4.7 trillion in payments and was "often left blank, making traceability almost impossible."
DOGE added that the field would now be required for federal spending following an agreement with the Treasury.
Meanwhile, I'll go out a safe limb and bet that neither NPR nor PBS uttered a peep about this story.