President Donald Trump issued a warning to congressional Republicans on Thursday, vowing to yank his support and endorsement for any member who rejects his cuts to NPR and PBS.
The House narrowly passed the $9.4 billion rescission package on June 12 that included clawing back more than $1 billion in funding for public broadcasting. However, the cuts took a back seat to the "big, beautiful bill" and the Senate now has until July 18 to approve the cuts, The Hill reported.
"It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Rescissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together," Trump said of the cable channels, the latter of which, MSNBC, he derides as an arm of the Democratic National Committee.
"Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement," he said in a post to Truth Social.
However, at least five Senate Appropriations Committee Republicans voiced unease with the plan to erase the congressionally approved funding proposed by White House budget director Russell Vought late last month.
They included Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, former Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Deb Fischer of Nebraska.
Rounds defended his state's Native American radio stations, which he said would not exist without this funding, a concern shared by Fischer, who noted parts of her state have poor cellular service.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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