Trump administration plans to ask Congress to defund PBS, NPR

President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to ask Congress to rescind $1.1 billion, or about two years of funding, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which helps support PBS and NPR.

“Taxpayer funding of NPR’s and PBS’s biased content is a waste,” the White House said in a statement Monday.

Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought confirmed Tuesday that the administration will try to revoke the CPB’s congressionally approved funding, which partially funds member stations of the nation’s two largest public broadcasters.

In an interview on Fox Business Tuesday, Vought accused NPR and PBS of reporting “leftist news for decades and cultural indoctrination for the last four or five years.” POLITICO and The New York Post first reported the administration’s intention to rescind the money.

CPB funding makes up about 13 percent of local public media stations’ revenue, according to its financial disclosures. But the money is disproportionately distributed, and provides for a higher percentage of station budgets in smaller markets compared to larger markets. CPB also says that for every dollar of federal funding, stations raise $7 from donors, including “state and local governments, universities, businesses, foundations and individual viewers and listeners, underscoring their value to the communities they serve.”

PBS CEO Paula Kerger said in a statement that the loss of funding “would devastate PBS member stations and the essential role they play in communities, particularly smaller and rural stations who rely on federal funding for a larger portion of their budgets.”

The plan to request a rescission comes weeks after Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher testified before the House Oversight subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.

WATCH: NPR and PBS heads face sharp questioning about federal funding during House hearing

The cuts are part of a larger expected rescission request totaling around $9 billion that also targets USAID and State Department programs. Because the Trump administration will attempt to claw back money that has already been appropriated, the administration must follow formal impoundment procedures, which include sending a memo to Congress. The legislative branch then has 45 days to decide whether to approve, reject or ignore the request. The money will be rescinded only if a majority of both the House and Senate approve the ask; if not, the administration must allocate the funding.

WETA, one of the public TV stations serving northern Virginia and the Washington metro area, receives support from CPB. WETA produces the PBS News Hour and Washington Week with The Atlantic, among other national and local programming.

The White House is expected to send its request to Congress on April 28.