To the applause of many, President Trump signed an executive order May 1 that ends taxpayer-paid dollars that flow to liberal outlets NPR and PBS through its nonprofit, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The response from CPB, however, was any decision to cut off its funding – about a half-billion dollars annually – must come from Congress, which funds it, not the executive branch.
Making a similar argument, NPR has now filed suit to demand its portion of the taxpayer-paid pie.
Reacting to the lawsuit, radio talk show host Jenna Ellis told AFR the liberal outlets might win.
“There's kind of some consensus,” she advised, “that the separation of powers is probably the best argument for NPR to say that that would have to come through congressional legislation, not through the executive branch.”
Congress itself has debated defunding CPB as recently as March, when the Republican-led Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee grilled the bosses at PBS and NPR.
How much public funding NPR and PBS receive annually is a moving target. In the case of NPR, its defenders say it receives only about 1% of its funding from public tax dollars. That defense is a little dishonest, however, since a Politico story reported the local radio stations that broadcast NPR programs receive about 10% of their funding from the federal government.
A spokesman for PBS told Politico about 16% of its funding comes directly from the federal government.
Ellis pointed out the lawsuit is not claiming the administration is trying to censor speech. Rather, the legal argument is President Trump is retaliating against the network because he doesn't like its speech. She says it's a fine but important point.
“They are saying that, because they have been funded and that is a current status – that they’re taxpayer funded – the only reason that Trump issued the executive order to take it away is in retaliation for them expressing constitutionally protected speech,” Ellis explained.
A related AFN poll, published this week, asked readers if taxpayer funding should continue for NPR and PBS. Only 1% voted “yes” while “no” garnered 89% of the votes.
