It finally happened—after years of conservative grumbling about funding left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, the U.S. Senate just advanced a bill to defund NPR and PBS. And it came down to the wire, as usual. Thanks to three Republican senators doing their best impression of Democrats, Vice President J.D. Vance had to step in yet again to break a 50-50 tie. That’s six times this year. At this rate, Vance may want to start keeping a cot in the Senate chamber.
The vote, which passed 51-50, is part of President Trump’s broader effort to gut the bloated, biased federal bureaucracy. You can go ahead and file this one under: promises kept. For years, conservatives have known what NPR really stands for—National Propaganda Radio. And as for PBS, they’ve managed to make tax-funded television feel like a TED Talk hosted by Rachel Maddow. Now, if the House passes the bill, both will be waving goodbye to a combined $9 billion in taxpayer support.
But not without drama, of course. Three GOP senators tried to kneecap the bill before it got out of the gate: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and, predictably, Mitch McConnell. Collins, ever the moderate, complained she didn’t have enough detail from the Office of Management and Budget, which sounds like bureaucratic-speak for “I don’t want to anger my liberal media buddies.” She still voted to advance the bill—but only after throwing a fit about transparency and process.
Murkowski, meanwhile, gave one of her usual “I’m above the party” speeches about legislative procedure, rural outreach, and the importance of bipartisanship. She argued that gutting public broadcasting would harm “rural communities,” which is ironic considering most of rural America tunes out NPR faster than Biden tunes out his teleprompter. McConnell, not running for reelection and clearly not concerned about grassroots backlash, joined them in dissent. No surprise there.
Despite their protestations, Trump’s team—led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and OMB Director Russell Vought—is marching ahead. Vought called the trimmed-down package, from $9.4 to $9 billion, “very exciting for the American taxpayer.” That’s a polite way of saying: we’re done bankrolling coastal elites’ pet media projects.
If the House seals the deal, President Trump will sign it without hesitation. The only question now is how long it will take the media to blame this on “authoritarianism” instead of taking a hard look at why Americans no longer want to pay for their sanctimonious, one-sided nonsense.
Leave a Comment