WASHINGTON — The White House has begun to notify Congress of a request to eliminate “all” public broadcasting funding and codify foreign-aid cuts identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, The Post has learned.
Major proposed clawbacks in the so-called “rescissions” plan include $1.1 billion in appropriated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funds to PBS and National Public Radio, and $8.3 billion from USAID.
A memo drafted by White House budget director Russ Vought — requested by GOP congressional leaders — accuses CPB of a “lengthy history of anti-conservative bias” and cites “waste, fraud, and abuse” at USAID.
Formal transmission of the plan to lawmakers will start a 45-day clock for the Republican-held House and Senate to either adopt or reject the blueprint, which the White House believes will pass — unlike President Trump’s 2018 rescission plan, which failed by one vote in the Senate.
“Since day one, the Trump Administration has targeted waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending through executive action, DOGE review, and other efforts by departments and agencies. Congress has expressed strong interest in supporting those efforts, and requested the Administration transmit rescissions to the Hill for swift approval,” Vought’s memo says.
“OMB recommends the Administration respond with two proposals to cut $9.3 billion. The first includes a rescission of $8.3 billion in wasteful foreign aid spending (out of $22 billion) that does not expire in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The second is a separate rescission of all Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — which funds the politically biased public radio and public television system.”
The White House memo notes that NPR CEO Katherine Maher once called President Trump a “fascist” and “deranged racist” — statements Maher told Congress last month she now regrets making — and cites two recent PBS programs featuring transgender characters.
NPR and PBS both have diverse revenue streams, including major foundation grants, advertising and voluntary viewer and listener donations, meaning that neither is likely to cease operations if they lose federal funding.
Musk’s DOGE initiative is seeking to cut $1 trillion in annual spending — a sum that would halve the annual federal deficit — and some cuts can be done without legislation.
The memo identifies numerous examples that it says are “illustrative of the waste that could continue without the rescission.”
The list includes $9.4 million for “Championing Transformative Changes in Gender Norms,” $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street, $500,000 for electric busses in Rwanda, $6 million for Palestinian media and civic society support, $882,000 to fund social media mentorship in Serbia and Belarus, $1 million for voter ID in Haiti, and $3 million for circumcision, vasectomies and condoms in Zambia.
The package also contains smaller cuts to three other agencies that President Trump targeted in a February executive order that called for them to be pared down to “the minimum presence and function required by law” — including $15 million from the US Institute of Peace, $27 million from the Inter-American Foundation and $22 million from the US African Development Foundation.
Trump attempted just one rescissions package in his first term. The $14.7 billion in proposed cuts passed the House but was narrowly defeated in the Senate by a 50-48 vote, with then-Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) tanking the plan over his objection to zeroing out $16 million in unused money in the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
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