The House Voted to Rescind Public Media's Funding. What Now?

A brief history of rescissions, plus a public media cheat sheet.

On Saturday, President Trump authorized the mobilization of 2,000 California National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to help respond to protests against raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Since then, unsettling images of press members being attacked by authorities have emerged, more troops have been deployed to the city, and a U.S. Senator from California was forced to the ground and handcuffed after interrupting a press conference by the Homeland Security Secretary.

And yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to advance President Trump’s rescissions bill, which would strip away public media’s federal funding for the next two years.

It’s very strange - and privileged - to have watched each of these updates from the quiet comfort of a vacation rental on the coast of North Carolina. In fact, I only learned about the final House vote after chasing a toddler up and down the beach.

I wasn’t planning on writing a Semipublic post this week, but it seems odd for a Substack focused on the public media not to at least acknowledge one of the industry’s most important Congressional votes ever. So here I am.

A Brief History of Rescissions

The President’s current rescission authority was established in 1974 with the passage of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act. Presidents had the authority to impound funds prior to 1974, but this act established limitations as well as timelines for rescission requests.

Starting that year, Presidents were required to provide the estimated fiscal impacts of the requested rescission, along with the source and amount of funding to be revoked, in a request to Congress. Afterwards, a 45-day timetable would start, wherein the House would draft a bill containing the rescission, review it in the appropriate committee, and then send to a simple majority vote in both chambers. Congress had the authority to alter the rescission amounts requested - either increasing them or decreasing them - or simply to refuse to act on the request. If the bill containing the rescission wasn’t passed within the 45-day timetable, the request was denied and could not be sent again by the President.

It may be surprising for some to hear that rescission requests from Presidents were a common occurrence up until President Clinton. In fact, the Government Accountability Office estimated that 1,212 rescission requests totaling over $90 billion had been sent by Presidents between 1974 and 2020. President Bush never sent a formal rescission request during his eight years, and President Obama continued the trend.

Unsurprisingly, the limits to the President’s rescission authority have been tested several times: In 1996, the Clinton Administration passed a bill that bypassed Congress’ authority to debate requests and required a 2/3rds majority in each chamber to defeat them (before being overturned by the Supreme Court less than two years later). Despite never exercising their rescission authority, the Bush Administration repeatedly sought out ways to expand the President’s authority to veto spending items, and President Obama proposed legislation in 2010 that would expedite certain rescission requests.

Since 1974, less than 40% of all rescission requests have been approved by Congress. President Trump’s current request of $9.4 billion, if passed, would single-handedly make 2025 the second biggest year for rescissions ever behind 1981 ($10.9 billion).

Public Media Facts You Need to Know

Now that it’s passed in the House, the rescissions bill - H.R.4 - will make its way to the Senate. The White House has expressed a desire for Congress to pass the bill by the Fourth of July, so we can expect Senators to take the issue up quickly.

I’m currently working on new data insights for Semipublic, but here’s a quick cheat sheet for what we’ve already covered:

How much does the Corporation for Public Broadcasting get from Congress?

$535 million for 2025, 2026, and 2027. (Plus $60 million for Interconnection).

How does CPB spend that money?

~90% of federal appropriations ($476 million in 2025) go to public TV and radio entities for programming and station support. The rest is split between running the corporation ($27 million) and various system support ($32 million).

Is CPB the only source of federal funding for public media?

No. Other federal agencies, like the National Endowment for the Arts, will sponsor their own grants for reporting or programming initiatives, though CPB grants make up the majority of federal funding for most public media entities.

How much does public media rely on federal funding?

On average, stations relied on federal funding for 15.6% of their total revenue in FY23.

For all public radio stations, the average was 15%.

For all public television stations, the average was 18%.

For NPR stations, the average was 13%.

For PBS stations, the average was 18%.

Which stations rely on federal funding the most?

Here are the top ten most at-risk stations from FY23 in order:

1. KCUW in Pendleton, OR: 98% reliance

2. KUHB in St. Paul, AL: 97% reliance

3. KSHI in Zuni Pueblo, NM: 95% reliance

4. KNSA in Unalakleet, AK: 91% reliance

5. KSDP in Sand Point, AK: 87% reliance

6. KGVA in Harlem, MT: 80% reliance

7. KTNA in Talkeetna, AK: 73% reliance

8. WGVV in Rock Island, IL: 71% reliance

9. WRVS in Elizabeth City, NC: 70% reliance

10. WVMR in Dunmore, WV: 69% reliance

What states rely on federal funding for public media the most?

When averaging public media stations in each state, the top three most reliant are:

1. West Virginia: 37%

2. Alaska: 36%

3. New Mexico: 35%

How many stations are at risk?

If we use NPR’s 2010 threshold of 20% reliance as an indicator of being at-risk: About 117 stations, or 20%.

How much do stations rely on donations?

In FY23, I found that public media stations, on average, relied on small gift donations for about 21% of their total revenue. That amounts to an average of about $150 per year per donor.

How long can stations survive without federal funding?

I found that, based on FY23 data, about 68% of public media stations could survive more than 12 months after losing federal funding based on their cash on hand. However, less than 20% of all stations would have a net positive revenue.

Which stations are most at risk based on their cash on hand?

These are the 12 stations that cannot cover 12 or more months of expenses with cash on hand and have more liabilities than assets (meaning they would have difficulty getting a loan):

1. WSCL - Salisbury, MD

2. KCCU - Lawton, OK

3. KCSN - Northridge, CA

4. KXJZ - Sacramento, CA

5. KCHO - Chico, CA

6. KXPR - Sacramento, CA

7. Georgia Public Broadcasting - Atlanta, GA

8. WLAE - Metairie, LA

9. WJSP - Atlanta, GA

10. WUGA - Atlanta, GA

11. KABU - Saint Michael, ND

12. WPBS - Watertown, NY

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