House Oversight Committee members in both parties appeared not to move from their existing positions on cutting federal CPB funding after a dramatic Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing on perceived public broadcasting bias Wednesday (see 2503210040). GOP lawmakers appeared to still favor zeroing the money, with some telling us they want to push it through via a coming budget reconciliation package rather than wait for the FY 2026 appropriations process. Democrats backed maintaining the CPB appropriation and mocked Republicans for holding the hearing instead of probing perceived Trump administration abuses. CPB funding opponents got a boost when President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he “would love to” see Congress defund public broadcasters.

PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher argue in written testimony posted Tuesday -- ahead of a Wednesday hearing of the House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee -- that their news content remains unbiased, and they urge lawmakers against cutting the public broadcasters’ federal subsidies. The hearing, set to begin at 10 a.m. in HVC-210, is happening against a backdrop of growing GOP criticism of public broadcasters (see 2503200058). Some congressional leaders are interested in requiring the outlets to provide assurance that they will transmit neutral content before Capitol Hill gives them more money (see 2503210040).

GOP leaders on the House Appropriations and Oversight subcommittees said in recent interviews that they want public broadcasters to demonstrate that they're addressing claims of pro-Democratic Party bias in their content before lawmakers will consider giving NPR and PBS more federal funding. Capitol Hill Republicans have scrutinized public broadcasters over bias claims since mid-2024 and amplified efforts to end their federal funding since getting unified control of the White House and Congress in January. House Oversight’s Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee plans to press NPR and PBS leaders on Republicans’ bias concerns during a Wednesday hearing (see 2503200058), which is likely to become a showdown on the funding issue.

The House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee said Wednesday it plans a March 26 hearing to examine conservatives' claims that public broadcasters’ content has a pro-Democratic bias, as expected (see 2502270071). PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher will testify starting at 10 a.m. in HVC-210. Republican lawmakers have filed several measures this year to end funding for NPR, PBS and CPB and claw back advance appropriations to the broadcasting entities (see 2502110072 and 2502120044), in part for alleged bias. PBS and other U.S. broadcasters are also facing scrutiny from the FCC via investigations that Chairman Brendan Carr has launched since taking over Jan. 20 (see 2502130060).

House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told us Wednesday that she has firmed up a late March date for a hearing with PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher to examine claims that public broadcasters’ content has a pro-Democratic bias (see 2502030064). Greene earlier this month proposed March 24 as one potential date for the hearing. The panel will take place amid growing GOP interest in ending federal funding for the broadcasters.

Public broadcasting is facing the “most significant” funding challenge it has seen in 30 years, America's Public Television Stations President Kate Riley said Monday at the APTS 2025 Public Media Summit in Washington. Congressional efforts to defund public media are “predictable threats” but grant-freezing executive orders and the FCC's investigation of NPR and PBS stations are “unpredictable threats,” Riley told the “fly-in” gathering of PBS station managers.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., filed the No Propaganda Act (HR-1211/S-519) Tuesday night to block federal CPB funding over claims that NPR, one of the public broadcasting entities it supports, creates “chronically biased content.” The measure would rescind “unobligated balances” of CPB’s advance funding for fiscal years 2025, 2026 and 2027. Kennedy and Perry bowed the No Propaganda Act hours after Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., filed the Defund Government Sponsored Propaganda Act (HR-1216/S-518) to end federal funding for public broadcasting and claw back CPB’s advance funding for FY25, FY26 and FY27 (see 2502110072). House Appropriations Committee Republicans attempted to end CPB's advance funding in 2023 and 2024 (see 2407100060). The House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee is eyeing a March hearing targeting claims of public broadcasting bias (see 2502030064). “It might have made sense many, many years ago for the federal government to subsidize public broadcasting,” but Congress should no longer “be picking winners and losers in the news media,” said Kennedy, a member of the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee, on the Senate floor. He cited claims of NPR's pro-Democratic Party bias that began to draw congressional Republicans’ scrutiny last year (see 2405080064). “If you are a news outlet, and you want to publish this kind of stuff, that is your right as an American,” but “I'm not for taking $500 million every single year and giving it to these stations, to the exclusion of all others, to do it,” he said. Kennedy also noted that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr last month ordered the Enforcement and Media bureaus to investigate PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations (see 2501300065). NPR didn’t comment.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., filed the Defund Government Sponsored Propaganda Act on Tuesday in a bid to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. The measure would also claw back CPB’s advance funding for fiscal years 2025, 2026 and 2027 “to reduce the public debt.” The legislation’s filing follows FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s January call for the Enforcement and Media bureaus to investigate PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations (see 2501300065). The House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee is eyeing a March hearing on public broadcasting (see 2502030064). House Appropriations Committee Republicans attempted to end CPB's advance funding in 2023 and 2024 (see 2407100060). “Americans have hundreds of sources of news and commentary, and they don’t need politically biased, taxpayer-funded media choosing what they should see and hear,” Lee said. “PBS and NPR are free to compete in the marketplace of ideas using donations, but their public subsidy should end.” NPR and PBS “have chosen advocacy over accuracy, using public dollars to promote a political agenda rather than report the facts,” Tenney said. “The Defund Government Sponsored Propaganda Act ensures that federal funding is no longer used to perpetuate the blatant media bias that has overtaken these platforms.” NPR and PBS didn't immediately comment.

House Oversight Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., pressed NPR and PBS executives Monday to testify at a March hearing on “federally funded radio and television, including its systemically biased content.” Greene’s request followed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s call last week for the Enforcement and Media bureaus to investigate PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations (see 2501300065). President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency advisory group has eyed NPR and PBS funder CPB as a potential target (see 2411220042).

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is “encouraged” that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has asked the Enforcement and Media bureaus for an investigation of PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations (see 2501300065), a spokesperson emailed us Thursday night. Cruz’s “rigorous oversight” last year of NPR’s funding sources (see 2407230038) “has inspired continued attention to this matter,” the spokesperson said: He “has led the fight to end liberal bias in taxpayer-funded media” and “remains committed to conducting thorough investigations of taxpayer dollars being misused to fund liberal propaganda on public airwaves.”