Nixon was so “disturbed” that PBS had started a new national news show with the hosts Robert MacNeil and Sander Vanocur — someone on his enemies list — that he requested “all funds for public broadcasting be cut immediately,” White House memos released years later showed.

NPR and PBS outlets, including several in Southern California, will have to make tough decisions as the U.S. Senate votes to claw back money previously allocated for their operations.

The U.S. Senate narrowly approved on July 16, 2025, a bill that would claw back federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to NPR, PBS and their affiliate stations.

Steve Bannon joined a growing chorus of MAGA influencers coalescing behind President Donald Trump in the wake of the Wall Street Journal report about a ribald birthday letter bearing Trump’s name that was sent to Jeffrey Epstein, telling CNN Friday that he believed the story had united a base that had been showing signs of fraying.

The House approved a Trump administration plan to rescind $9 billion in previously allocated funds, including $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

With a late-night vote in Congress to cut PBS and NPR funding, Mitt Romney‘s vision has come to pass. During a 2012 presidential debate, the GOP nominee famously pledged to “stop the subsidy to PBS” even though he liked Sesame Street character Big Bird.

Academics and public radio professionals warn that budget cuts could decimate a watchdog for political corruption.

Congress voted to claw back federal funding to public media. Some of those hit hardest include community radio stations in areas that voted for the president.