The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) condemned the House vote on Thursday to cut a previously allocated $1.1 billion for public broadcasting, blasting the move as “a radical right-wing ideology that aims to destroy a non-partisan public service despite all evidence of its wide benefits.”
H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, impacts funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), as well as thousands of public radio and television stations across the country. The vote to slash that funding passed by only three votes, 214-212.
The WGAE statement, which was shared with TheWrap, stated that The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a “public treasure.” The union praised its educational shows such as “NOVA,” “Molly of Denali” and “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.”
“These programs, along with the many others written by Writers Guild members, provide rural and urban households, classrooms and communities with accessible educational content and off-screen learning tools that serve all Americans and their families equally, with no subscription fee,” the statement said.
“The House’s vote to strip money that had already been allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is fueled by a radical right-wing ideology that aims to destroy a non-partisan public service despite all evidence of its wide benefits. It is a total fabrication that these cuts will offset the massive debt that will be caused by the Trump Administration’s big, bad, billionaire-backed reconciliation bill. This vote is an example of the richest people in the world taking money and resources away from everyone else. We urge the U.S. Senate to reject this shameful and destructive legislation.”
The Senate is expected to vote on H.R. 4 in July.
“Cruelty is the point,” Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Minority Leader of the the House said of the massive funding rollback.
