The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the American nonprofit organization that provides funding to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, announced it would be shutting down Friday following President Donald Trump’s budget cuts to public broadcasting.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison in a statement.
“CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
In late June, Congress approved roughly $9 billion in cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid – $8 billion pulled from foreign aid, and around $1.1 billion from CPB, impacting both PBS and NPR.
The budget cuts, approved when Trump signed into law a rescissions bill on July 24, received blowback from all Democratic lawmakers, as well as some Republicans, including Sen.s Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), with the dissenting lawmakers arguing the cuts violated Congress sole authority to control government spending.
“Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,” Harrison said. “We are deeply grateful to our partners across the system for their resilience, leadership, and unwavering dedication to serving the American people.”