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By Max Frost
If nothing changes, $9B will be released at midnight on Friday to fund humanitarian aid, NPR, and PBS, among other items. President Trump is leading the Republicans in a race against the clock to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Will he succeed?
DOGE claims to have cut $190B; however, both sides’ analysts say the effective number is likely far lower. Many cuts are not permanent, given that Congress allocated the funding and the money will therefore be released. To make the cuts stick, Congress needs to rescind the money before that happens. Such rescission bills are rare: Congress hasn’t passed one at a president’s request since Bill Clinton in 1996.
After midnight on Friday, $9B will be released for both humanitarian aid ($7.9B) and public broadcasting ($1.1B). A bill to stop that passed the House last month, 214-212. The Senate is now debating it, with Trump issuing threats from the sidelines.
As with the Big Beautiful Bill, this one has divided the Republicans.
On the one hand are pro-cut conservatives, who say they need to curb spending to combat “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Last week, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) called it a “gut-check” for Republicans: “Every single day, I’ve heard my Republican colleagues talking about the need to reduce spending…They either believe in reducing spending or they don’t.” Conservative Republicans have said passing the bill is a must to show the party remains serious about the deficit after enacting a budget that’s projected to add trillions in federal debt.
On the other side are moderates and Democrats, who say the funding is going toward vital services that the government should provide. Most controversial are cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PEPFAR.
CPB funds PBS, NPR, and around 1,000 local radio stations across the country. It provides around 15% of PBS’ budget, 1% of NPRs, and less but crucial funding to small, rural stations that in turn pay for NPR’s content. Cuts could shutter some of those stations, have a knock-on effect on NPR, and reduce PBS’ operations. Trump ordered funding cuts over allegations of waste and liberal bias. The bill would make those permanent and terminate federal funding for CPB, preventing it from issuing grants to local stations after September.
Several Republicans have threatened to vote against the bill because of that provision, including Lisa Murkowski (AK), Dan Sullivan (AK), Susan Collins (ME), and Mike Rounds (SD) – all of whom have voiced opposition because of the bill’s impact on rural radio in their states.
Trump, meanwhile, is trying to get them in line: “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement,” Trump wrote last week of NPR and PBS.
The other hot-button topic is PEPFAR.
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