New Jersey Republicans in Congress vote to cancel funding for public radio and TV

The Republican-led House of Representatives voted 216-213 on July 18 to rescind $9 billion in previously approved federal government spending over the next two years, including all of the $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The nonprofit corporation, created by Congress through a bill signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967, provides operating funds for public radio and television, including National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. Millions of dollars of that funding goes to the state of New Jersey.

The Senate passed identical legislation by a 51-48 vote on July 16. New Jersey Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim both voted no.

President Donald Trump requested that Congress rescind the appropriated funding for public broadcasting and international assistance programs on June 3. “This special message identifies wasteful and unnecessary spending that is no longer needed for the purposes for which they were appropriated,” wrote Trump’s Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought in a letter to the president. “Federal spending on CPB subsidizes a public media system that is politically biased and is an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer.”

New Jersey Republican Reps. Tom Kean Jr., Chris Smith, and Jeff Van Drew voted for the cuts. 

None of the lawmakers immediately responded to a request for comment for this story.

New Jersey Democratic Reps. Herb Conaway, Josh Gottheimer, LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez, Donald Norcross, Frank Pallone, Nellie Pou, Mikie Sherill, and Bonnie Watson Coleman voted no.

“The Trump Administration is proposing over $9 billion in cuts to foreign assistance and public broadcasting. If Republicans agree to these cuts, they will be going back on their word and clawing back funds they already voted for, “ Kim said in a July 11 Facebook post. “They’ll start here, but Trump and his Republican majorities could work to take back money promised for education, healthcare or even small businesses. We have to stop this effort now.”

“Cutting PBS funding would deeply hurt families who rely on public TV and radio to support their children’s education and stay informed about the news of the day,” Norcross posted on X on June 12. “Trump and House Republicans are making it harder for our kids to access educational TV programs that many of us grew up with and learned from, like Sesame Street.

“For months, Trump and his buddies said they didn’t need Congress to gut these programs,” McIver posted the same day. “Now they’re asking us to rubber stamp $9.4B in cruelty. I won’t. Congress must serve the people instead of dismantling programs that work.” 

According to an April report by the nonprofit news site Current, on average New Jersey’s public radio and television stations received about 16% of their annual FY 2023 operations budget from federal funding, including funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Sarah Sgro, a media relations and communications specialist at New York Public Radio, told the New Jersey Independent in an email that New York Public Radio, which owns NJPR, receives about $3 million annually in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in support of its news, music, and cultural programming. 

“The loss of this funding will impact our ability to serve our audiences with the trusted news, community conversation, and cultural and musical programming – all without a paywall,” Sgro said. “But these cuts will impact smaller stations in rural and remote areas even more significantly. These are stations who rely on CPB for upwards of 40% of their total funding – places that often lack commercial broadcast options. It would exacerbate news deserts and take away trusted local news, local cultural programming and important emergency services.”

“There’s a longstanding crisis in local news, and NJ is no exception,” Sgro added. “More and more local newsrooms are being forced to shrink or cease publishing, leaving sources like NJPR as one of only a few surviving news sources,” for programming, including regular call-in programs with Sen. Kim and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

In social media posts, NJ PBS repeatedly urged viewers to tell their lawmakers to oppose the recissions package. 

“NJ PBS brings our community together — through local storytelling, cultural programming, and educational resources for every generation,” said one. “But now the Senate could take back the funding that makes it all possible. Don’t let it happen. We can’t protect NJ PBS without you.

A July Harris Poll for NPR found 66% of American adults support federal funding of public radio and 71% believe public radio is a valuable community service.

A March national poll by Pew Research found just 24% of adults support removing federal funding from PBS and NPR; 43% opposed cuts; and 33% said they were not sure.

A January 2025 YouGov poll found PBS is the nation’s most trusted institution for the 22nd year in a row, as well as its most trusted news and public affairs network.

Arianna Nahim contributed reporting for this story.

Updated 7-24-25