4 things to know about the rescissions bill

1. It cuts funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Funds rescinded in H.R. 4 include “amounts made available for Corporation for Public Broadcasting” in fiscal years 2026 and 2027. A 2024 spending bill appropriated $535 million for this purpose in fiscal year 2026. 

President Donald Trump outlined his concerns with providing taxpayer funding to the CPB in a May 1 executive order, which directed the CPB to halt funding to National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Services. He described funding for the outlets as unnecessary because “Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options.”

Trump also noted that the CPB’s governing statute states that it cannot “contribute to or otherwise support any political party,” accusing both NPR and PBS of failing to live up to that mandate to present a “fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.” 

The president directed the CPB to halt direct funding to NPR and PBS “to the maximum extent allowed by law” and “cease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.” 

A study from the conservative media watchdog Media Research Center reflects concerns about partisan coverage at the taxpayer-funded outlets, finding that the NPR program “Fresh Air” conducted 36 interviews with liberal journalists and none with conservative journalists from Jan. 1 to June 30. The popular children’s program “Sesame Street,” which airs on PBS, faced backlash for promoting LGBT Pride Month on its X account this year. 

However, Murkowski argued in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday outlining her opposition to H.R. 4 that CPB funding was necessary because it “provides for so much support, particularly in rural areas.”

According to Murkowski, “It’s not just your news. It’s your tsunami alerts, it’s your landslide alert, it is your volcano alert. It is the weather to let you know it’s safe to go out and get on the fishing grounds. It’s your educational programming.”