Rep. Kat Cammack & Sen. Jim Banks Introduce The Defund NPR Act

February 26, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL-03) and Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced the Defund NPR Act, which amends section 396 of the Communications Act (47 U.S.C. 396), ensuring no federal funds, direct or indirect, support NPR, including dues or programming purchases.

"I'm glad to join my longtime friend, Senator Banks, in introducing the Defund NPR Act in the House," said Rep. Cammack. "Last Congress, the Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing about the status of NPR and how federal funds are often used for left-wing activism under the journalism moniker. For too long, NPR cherry-picked its coverage in favor of its majority Democrat listeners—87 percent according to a Pew Research Survey—from failing to cover an assassination attempt on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 to ignoring former President Joe Biden’s business dealings with his son Hunter in 2020. Federal funds shouldn’t be available to NPR."

"Taxpayers shouldn't be forced to fund NPR's liberal propaganda. If NPR can't stay afloat without government funding, that tells you all you need to know about the quality of their news," said Sen. Banks.

Read the text of the legislation here and more about the bill from Breitbart here.

Background:

CEO of NPR, Katherine Maher, has described the First Amendment as “the number one challenge” to combatting “misinformation,” and has attacked former President Donald Trump on social media on several occasions.

In 2019, NPR published an erroneous “correction” after then-Congressman Banks correctly stated that Adam Schiff lied about his relationship with Ukraine “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella during an on-air interview. According to a recent report from Real Clear Investigations, Mr. Ciaramella accompanied then-Vice President Biden on his trip to Ukraine in 2015, at which the former Vice President demanded the Ukrainian government fire prosecutor Victor Shokin.

In 2024, NPR Senior Editor Uri Berliner wrote an essay exposing how NPR’s editorial decisions had been taken over liberals. He noted that he “found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.”

On January 29 of this year, FCC Chairman Brandon Carr ordered an investigation into NPR and PBS for potential violations of federal regulations by airing announcements for for-profit entities.

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NPR's Top 10 Transgressions

According to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center’s survey research, 87 percent of listeners describe themselves as Democrats, while only 12 percent as Republicans. In contrast, the major commercial network newscasts are close to 50-50. (Howard Husock, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, Witness Testimony)
NPR's claim that only 1 percent of their revenue comes from the forced taxpayer donations is not true. 31 percent of their budget comes from licensing fees, meaning member stations paying to license NPR-produced content like All Things Considered and Morning Edition. These stations receive $128 million in federal grants annually to pay in fees back to NPR. The most recent audit of NPR from 2022 (attached) reveals that NPR receives $93 million in revenue from these stations, which would account for 73 percent of the CPB grants to affiliates. As a result, NPR is lying to the public about how much tax money they receive. (James Erwin, Federal Affairs Manager for Telecommunications, Americans for Tax Reform, Witness Testimony)
NPR energetically channeled the accusers of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and when a man arrived in an Uber on Kavanaugh’s street two years ago with weapons and plans to assassinate Kavanaugh, NPR failed to file a single feature story on it. But in March, between Morning Edition and Fresh Air, Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford was granted an hour of taxpayer-funded air time to reproduce her unproven charges of teenaged sexual assault. (Tim Graham, Executive Editor, NewsBusters.org, Media Research Center, Witness Testimony)
Both PBS and NPR repeat the leftist media’s resistance to an opposing side on contentious issues like climate change and transgender ideology. Our study of seven months of PBS NewsHour found they gave over 90 percent of the air time to the Left on gender ideology stories. (Tim Graham, Executive Editor, NewsBusters.org, Media Research Center, Witness Testimony)
NPR displayed its take in 2022 by interviewing transgender Biden HHS appointee Adm. Rachel Levine to argue “There is no argument about the value and the importance of gender-affirming care. There is no argument.” NPR reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin underlined: “Gender-affirming care is not harmful. It's lifesaving, she explains.” No dissent was allowed.
A glaring Exhibit A is the New York Post series on Hunter Biden’s laptop in October of 2020. Instead of seeking to investigate the Biden family’s influence-peddling, NPR’s Morning Edition broadcast a story titled “Experts Say Attack On Hunter Biden's Addiction Deepens Stigma For Millions.” There wasn’t one word in it about Hunter Biden’s business practices involving his father, which was the point of the Post stories. (Tim Graham, Executive Editor, NewsBusters.org, Media Research Center, Witness Testimony)
When the House Oversight Committee had a hearing in March where Hunter Biden was supposed to appear, NPR’s All Things Considered wouldn’t consider a feature story on it. NPR covered the Pelosi-picked House January 6 Committee live for every minute, and then ignored the Biden impeachment inquiry. (Tim Graham, Executive Editor, NewsBusters.org, Media Research Center, Witness Testimony)
On August 27, 2020, NPR's blog "Code Switch," with the slogan "Race In Your Face," posted an interview promoting a new book titled In Defense of Looting. Natalie Escobar promoted author Emily Osterweil's view that “looting is a powerful tool to bring about real, lasting change in society.” (Tim Graham, Executive Editor, NewsBusters.org, Media Research Center, Witness Testimony)
On The NPR Politics Podcast on July 17, 2021, NPR reporter Danielle Kurtzleben brought on Yale law professor Elizabeth Hinton to promote her book on the acceptability of violence as a protest tactic against police. Kurtzleben called this book “excellent” and explained: “You talk about these clashes as rebellions -- and quite pointedly, not as riots. It's a very meaningful choice.” (Tim Graham, Executive Editor, NewsBusters.org, Media Research Center, Witness Testimony)
NPR hosts interviewed Representative Adam Schiff, Trump’s most visible antagonist, 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports. But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming. (Uri Berliner, Former Senior Business Editor at NPR, "I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust")