USA US Congress decides to cut government funding for media
President Donald Trump has been handed another victory in the US Congress. The House of Representatives passed a bill that cuts billions in previously approved foreign aid and federal funding for public broadcasters. Trump had proposed the cuts.
18.07.2025, 07:11
SDA
There were 216 votes in favor and 213 against in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. The bill had already passed the Senate in the early hours of Thursday morning (local time). Trump must now sign it before it comes into force.
Cuts of around nine billion US dollars
The bill provides for spending cuts of around nine billion US dollars (around 7.7 billion euros) - including 1.1 billion US dollars in funding already committed to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
The agency is responsible for distributing state media funds to the public broadcasters National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and their member institutions. According to CPB, it supports the operation of more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations in the US.
Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt argued that the aim was to restore "fiscal sanity" in the country. NPR and PBS had used federal funds for years to push "a partisan left-wing agenda", she claimed. Democrats, on the other hand, warned that cutting funding could hit local stations in rural areas particularly hard and potentially destroy them.
