No More Tax Dollars for NPR and PBS: A Win for the Constitution

Congress axes $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds at the President's request, ending an unconstitutional subsidy that taxpayers shouldn’t have paid for decades.

🕒 4-minute read

Finally, a Line in the Sand

Following the President’s explicit request, both chambers of Congress have eliminated $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, permanently severing taxpayer subsidies that have propped up NPR, PBS, and their affiliated stations for far too long. This decisive action saves approximately $1.60 per taxpayer yearly while fulfilling a long-overdue promise to end government handouts to public media organizations. While some celebrate this as a well-deserved rebuke to biased media coverage, the genuine victory here runs much deeper—it represents a constitutional triumph. Government funding of public media never belonged within the federal mandate, and this decision finally puts government back where the Constitution intended it to remain.

Bias Is a Distraction

Certainly, NPR and PBS have drawn considerable criticism for their apparent leftward tilt, and the evidence supports these concerns. A damning whistleblower report released last year by former NPR editor Uri Berliner revealed that zero Republicans worked among the 87 editorial staff members in the Washington, D.C., bureau. During NPR’s 2024 convention coverage, Democratic proceedings received 88% positive coverage while Republican events faced 72% negative treatment. CEO Katherine Maher, whose background includes extensive progressive activism, dismissed these bias allegations outright and challenged critics to provide concrete proof of systematic prejudice. However, here lies the crucial point that transcends partisan concerns: even if these outlets devoted themselves exclusively to promoting conservative viewpoints around the clock, taxpayer funding would remain fundamentally wrong. The issue extends far beyond editorial content—it centers on who shoulders the financial burden and how government subsidies distort the natural marketplace of ideas.

The Constitution Doesn’t Allow It

Anyone scrutinizing the Constitution will discover that while freedom of the press receives explicit protection through the First Amendment, ratified in 1791, the document contains no provisions authorizing the federal funding of media organizations. Regardless of their editorial positions, the federal government has no legitimate authority to bankroll news outlets or broadcasting services. The Ninth Amendment protects rights not explicitly enumerated in the Constitution, including the fundamental right to a free marketplace of ideas. At the same time, the Tenth Amendment clearly states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Subsidizing NPR and PBS falls nowhere within the scope of delegated federal powers. This represents a blatant constitutional overreach that undermines the fundamental principles of federalism upon which our system of government depends.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The 10th Amendment To The United States Constitution

What the Founders Said

The Founding Fathers deliberately constructed federalism as a bulwark against unchecked federal power, intentionally reserving the vast majority of governmental authority to individual states and citizens. James Madison clarified this principle in Federalist No. 45: "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” Alexander Hamilton reinforced this concept in Federalist No. 17, observing that citizens “will be more attached to their respective state governments” rather than an expansive federal bureaucracy that exceeds its proper boundaries. Media funding does not appear on the list of legitimate federal responsibilities—if such funding serves any public purpose, it belongs at the state level or within private hands.

Let the Market Sort It Out

Setting aside questions of editorial bias entirely, federal funding creates an inherently unfair competitive environment. While NPR receives only 1–2% of its total budget from CPB funding, PBS depends on approximately 15% of its budget from this source, and some member stations rely on anywhere from 8–17% of their operating funds from federal subsidies. Rural stations face a more substantial impact. These amounts may seem modest in percentage terms for major outlets, but they represent a significant competitive advantage over private media companies that must survive entirely through market mechanisms. If these publicly funded outlets cannot maintain their operations without taxpayer assistance, serious questions arise about their value to audiences. State and local governments should follow the federal example and eliminate their own media subsidies. In a genuinely free society, listeners and viewers should determine which programming deserves support through voluntary choices. Market forces operate harshly but fairly, unlike government handouts that artificially tilt the competitive landscape and stifle truly independent media voices.

So, Does It Matter?

This defunding represents a genuine triumph for constitutional fidelity, properly realigning government operations with the enumerated powers that the Constitution grants. The significance extends beyond broadcasting policy because the Constitution is a binding law rather than mere advisory guidance. Congress and the President must build upon this precedent by systematically examining the entire federal budget for other programs that lack constitutional foundations, ranging from arts grants to corporate subsidies, and sticking to constitutional principles when making spending decisions. The Supreme Court should also embrace this opportunity to revisit previous liberal judicial decisions that have systematically weakened federalism by ignoring the clear intent of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

Restoring the Founders’ original vision of strictly limited government ensures that taxpayer funds support only those activities that the Constitution explicitly permits, thereby safeguarding individual liberty and governmental accountability for every American citizen.