President Trump’s determination to halt the use of government funding to support public broadcasting, which he sees as leftist, suffered a setback on Friday when a federal judge in Washington ordered the administration to restore funding that had been earmarked for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.
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But despite similarities between those publicly funded entities, the $1.1 billion cuts earmarked by Congress for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the lifeline for NPR and PBS — are not affected by the court’s decision. The judge in the Radio Free Europe case was sharply critical of the government’s presentation, at one point describing government arguments as “nonsensical.” He also suggested the government knows how to frame the argument to take back authorized funding, thus presenting public broadcasting with a monumental challenge to replace the slashed funding to survive.
The Congressional funding for NPR and PBS is channeled through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as grants. Approximately 100 broadcast entities, including radio and television stations, will lose around 30% of their revenue, severely impacting their ability to function. The case ultimately came down to the court ruling that the executive branch had usurped funding decisions that belonged to Congress.