Donald Trump warned Republicans that they would not receive his endorsement should they retaliate and oppose his cuts to PBS and NPR.
The president‘s threat Thursday night on Truth Social came as the Senate approaches a deadline of July 18 to approve $9.4 billion in DOGE-inspired cuts included in a rescissions package, which the House approved in June.
Not only is the congressionally-established Corporation for Public Broadcasting targeted, but so are USAID and the U.S. Institute of Peace, which are effectively shuttered.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” Trump demanded, referring to MSNBC. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”
But not everyone in the Senate appears to have fallen in line.
South Dakota’s Mike Rounds has said he’s wary of cuts to public broadcasting services in rural areas.
“There’s a specific group of Native American tribes that have a public radio system set up, and really the vast majority of the funding for it comes from one source, and that’s within the rescission package,” Rounds told reporters, CBS reported. “What we’re trying to do is to work with [the Office of Management and Budget] to find a path forward where the funding for those radio stations would be left alone.”
Montana Sen. Steve Daines, Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski voiced similar concerns, with Murkowski calling public broadcasting a “lifeline.”
As for other proposed cuts in the package, Maine Sen. Susan Collins has objected to the targeting of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
“I do not support the rescission for PEPFAR and global health programs,” Collins told reporters last month, per The Hill.
Rounds, Daines, Capito and Collins are all up for reelection next year, while Murkowski’s term expires in 2028. Murkowski did not receive Trump’s endorsement in 2022—nor did she need it, since she would go on to win a fourth term.
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