Elon Musk’s apparent next target on his federal cost-cutting spree: National Public Radio.
“Defund NPR. It should survive on its own,” the Tesla boss posted on X, the platform he owns, on Tuesday morning.
The comment came amid Musk’s breakneck push to cut trillions of dollars from the U.S. government’s budget.
NPR and PBS’s parent, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, was set to receive $525 million in public funding in 2024, according to the Washington Post, although an updated figure since the end of the year has not been shared. From that funding, $126 million was earmarked for public radio stations — but not all of that goes to NPR.
The year prior, in 2023, $32 million of NPR’s $318 million in revenue came from the CPB. Overall, NPR syndicates its programming to more than 1,000 public radio stations. While the bulk of NPR’s funding does not come from federal funds, the outlet has said it is a critical component to staying on the airwaves.
“Federal funding is essential to public radio’s service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR,” according to NPR’s website.
Musk has been the target of criticism from many media figures and politicians — including from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said he is “morally vacant” — as he looks to aggressively trim the federal bureaucracy.
The Treasury Department recently gave the Department of Government Efficiency — or DOGE, the new department Musk runs — access to the payment system for government benefits, grants and tax refunds; the system, which is usually run by civil servants, controls trillions of dollars in payments. Musk on Monday said he also received approval from President Trump to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.
President Trump later clarified Musk “can’t do and won’t do” anything that does not receive his administration’s approval.
Last week, the billionaire said he is aiming to cut $1 trillion to $2 trillion in annual government spending. That aggressive goal would represent up to 30% of annual spending, after the federal government spent $6.75 trillion in 2024. He also re-shared an X post on Monday showing DOGE had already cut $1 billion in government spending on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
These moves have led to harsh criticism from several media voices and prominent left-leaning politicians, including from Hillary Clinton, who called Musk an “unelected oligarch” on Monday.
Musk appears to have shaken off the barbs.
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