Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media

The order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Board of Directors to stop providing direct grants to NPR and PBS, cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent the law allows, and decline all future direct funding. It also instructs the CPB Board to revise the 2025 Television and Radio Community Service Grant eligibility rules before June 30, 2025, to bar local public-station licensees and any other CPB grant recipients from passing federal money through to NPR or PBS. All other federal agency heads are directed to identify and terminate any direct or indirect funding of NPR and PBS, review remaining contracts for compliance, and take corrective action where noncompliance is found.

The order further directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine whether NPR and PBS are complying with the federal anti-discrimination employment requirements embedded in the CPB's governing statute, and to take corrective action if they are not. All actions must be carried out consistent with applicable law and available appropriations. A severability clause ensures the order remains operative even if individual provisions are struck down.

NPR and PBS directly lose access to federal funding. Local public radio and television stations that receive CPB Community Service Grants and currently pass money to NPR or PBS are also affected. All federal agencies holding grants or contracts with NPR or PBS must review and potentially terminate those arrangements.

NPR and PBS rely on CPB grants and other federal funding as part of their operating budgets, and local public stations that affiliate with them could lose the ability to use federal grant money for network fees or programming. Reduced federal revenue could affect the breadth and reach of public radio and television across the country.

The CPB Board must rewrite its 2025 grant eligibility rules by June 30, 2025, making grant compliance the primary enforcement lever for indirect funding. Each federal agency independently audits its own NPR and PBS contracts and terminates what it legally can. HHS runs a parallel compliance review on anti-discrimination law. Enforcement depends on whether agency heads and the CPB Board treat the directives as binding; the repeated phrase "to the maximum extent allowed by law" reserves room for legal challenges to slow or limit implementation.