Congress Defunds PBS and NPR
The bill heads to President Trump's desk for his signature.
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I remember watching PBS as a kid. Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Square One — these shows taught me reading, math, kindness. Documentaries from Ken Burns taught me U.S. history, including stories that weren’t covered in school. PBS and NPR have hundreds of affiliates that inform small, often rural communities about their county, city, town, and neighborhood. As Burns points out, this includes emergency systems to warn residents of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and other disasters.
Early this morning, the House voted along party lines (216-213) to defund PBS and NPR of all federal money for the next two years — $1.1 billion total. This comes after the Senate voted along party lines (51-48), save for Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, to advance this defunding. Those defections are probably because voters in Alaska and Maine, like this guy, value local public media.
PBS, in particular, holds a special place for me. As a staffer in the 1980s on the Senate Appropriations Committee, my Mom worked tirelessly to preserve PBS’s federal funding (it’s her proudest professional accomplishment). She understood what it gave kids across America, especially those without quality preschool access. She would go toe-to-toe with senators who tried to cut PBS’s funding and shift it to defense. Throughout her 15-year career (1974-1989) she won every public media battle.
We haven’t spoken about this news yet, but I know she’ll be gutted.
On a more personal level, last month I began to host a show for PBS — Civics Made Easy — which fills the gaps in our civic knowledge (all twelve episodes of Season One have already been shot). Like U.S. history, too many schools fail at teaching us how government works. This isn’t teachers’ fault, but state lawmakers’ — especially since just seven states require at least a year of civics or government at some point between kindergarten and 12th grade. When we don’t know how to affect the system, our system’s leaders gleefully avoid accountability.
It’s not clear that members of Congress understand the value of public media. Yes, there’s tons of info online, but PBS and NPR affiliates adhere to journalistic standards. They vet and fact-check information. They use trusted sources. Unlike the national level, there are few local options, per community, that check these boxes. Many towns in America will lose their best local news source. For some congresspeople, perhaps that’s the goal.
Just so we’re clear how much money this really is, we’re talking about 0.008% of the federal budget. That’s not even one hundredth of a percent.
What happens when public media gets cut? It means kids, especially poor ones, have fewer quality educational resources. It means counties, cities, towns, and neighborhoods have less oversight of their local officials and government. It means rural communities have fewer ways to be warned of natural disasters. And it means adults have fewer ways to learn about history and civics — to understand where we’ve been, warts and all — and know how to chart a better path forward.
This news, of course, doesn’t mean that PBS and NPR are done. They, and their local affiliates, accept donations. I imagine there will be a deluge to support them. But at the same time, removing $550 million from their annual budget(s) will kill many affiliates. People in those largely rural communities will be much worse off.
I have a hard time believing that’s what those people actually want.
As always, for more on how our government works, check out What Does the Constitution Actually Say? (for ages 13+) and What Does the Constitution Say? (for ages 8-12). And consider making a donation to your local PBS and NPR affiliate.