Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) introduced a bill to fully defund NPR and PBS during a viral congressional hearing this week, calling the taxpayer-funded outlets “propaganda machines for the radical left.”
The move came after a House Subcommittee on Government Efficiency hearing Wednesday, where NPR CEO Katherine Maher was brutally grilled by GOP lawmakers for the outlet’s deep-seated liberal bias while taking taxpayers’ money.
Jackson’s bill—titled the “No Partisan Radio and Partisan Broadcasting Services Act” or the “NPR and PBS Act”—seeks to eliminate federal funding for both NPR and PBS.
“Hardworking Americans are sick of footing the bill,” Jackson told Fox News Digital.
“It’s time to cut them off and stop forcing taxpayers to pay for their liberal lies!”
“Though NPR and PBS were originally founded to produce non-biased, informational, and educational content, the outlets have since turned into taxpayer-funded propaganda machines for the radical left,” he added.
During the hearing, Maher struggled to answer questions from Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), who grilled her on NPR’s decision to ignore the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election.
Maher admitted, “NPR acknowledges we were mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively or sooner.”
Watch:
The hearing also highlighted NPR’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic after Cloud noted the network’s early dismissal of the lab leak theory.
Maher responded:
“We recognize our reporting at the time, but we recognize that the new CIA evidence is worthy of coverage and have covered it.”
The grilling came in the wake of revelations from former NPR senior editor Uri Berliner, who was suspended in 2024 after publishing an essay accusing the network of censoring dissenting viewpoints.
Berliner’s piece soon became a rallying cry for critics who say NPR and PBS are no longer fit for taxpayer support.
Meanwhile, President Trump responded to the hearing, saying he would be “honored” to see both NPR and PBS shut down and blasting them as “very unfair” and “very biased.”
“They spend more money than any other network of its type ever conceived, so the kind of money that’s being wasted, and it’s a very biased view, you know that better than anybody,” Trump previously said.
“And I’d be honored to see it end.”
Jackson’s office echoed Trump, describing NPR and PBS as a “messaging arm for woke, radical Democrats.“
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