House Democrats Seek to Strike Public Broadcasting Funding Clawback From Rescissions Bill

Goldman led the CPB rescissions strikeout amendment to HR-4 with support from House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui of California and seven other Democrats. The other backers included Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke of New York and Rep. April McClain Delaney of Maryland, a former deputy NTIA administrator during the Biden administration. Lobbyists told us they expect additional CPB-focused amendments to HR-4 before the House Rules Committee meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday to consider teeing up floor votes on the measure.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., the other Congressional Public Broadcasting co-chairman, didn’t sign on to Goldman’s amendment but joined the Democratic lawmaker Monday to publicly oppose the rescission proposal, which President Donald Trump supports. “Rural broadcasters face significant challenges in raising private funds, making them particularly vulnerable if government funding is cut,” Amodei and Goldman said. The rescission would jeopardize rural communities’ "access to vital resources they depend on. Furthermore, public broadcasting represents less than 0.01% of the federal budget, yet its impact reaches every congressional district. Cutting this funding will not meaningfully reduce the deficit, but it will dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans.”

Fired CPB board members Diane Kaplan, Laura Ross and Thomas Rothman “have failed to carry their burden of demonstrating that they are likely to prevail on the merits of their claim for injunctive relief or that Plaintiffs are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief,” Judge Randolph Moss said Sunday in a ruling for the D.C. district court in docket 25-01305. “Although the case presents important questions regarding the status of the Corporation and its relationship with the federal government, the Court must leave those questions for another day.”

The board members' briefing "focuses on the question of whether the Corporation is a governmental or a private entity, and that question may have some bearing on later rounds of the litigation,” Moss’ ruling said. “At this point, however, the Court is not yet persuaded that Plaintiffs are entitled to prevail on the merits, even if the Corporation is, in relevant respects, a private, nonprofit corporation that Congress intended to insulate from governmental interference.”

The 1967 Public Broadcasting Act “lacks any express removal provision; it does not make clear -- at least in express terms -- whether the President retains removal authority incident to his appointment authority and, if so, whether any such authority is constrained by a good-cause provision or other limitation,” Moss said. He noted that CPB “has, since the three directors were removed, amended its bylaws to provide that ‘[n]o Director may be removed from the Board by any person or authority, including the President of the United States, without a two-thirds vote of the other Directors confirming such removal.”

CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said the organization is “very pleased that the Court recognized CPB is an independent, nonprofit corporation, free from governmental control or influence,” despite Moss ruling against a preliminary injunction. CPB’s board and management “look forward to continuing our work with policymakers and other stakeholders to ensure accurate, unbiased and nonpartisan public media is available for all Americans.” CPB said Harrison took steps Sunday “to affirm that [Kaplan, Moss and Rothman] are, remain, and shall continue to be” board members.

A White House spokesperson said CPB is “creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers’ dime. Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS.”