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Defund Government-Sponsored Propaganda Act
To prohibit Federal funding for the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio and to provide for the transfer of certain Federal funds that would have been made available to those organizations to reduce the public debt, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would prohibit federal funding from being made available to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR), either directly or indirectly, including through public broadcast stations that use federal funds to purchase their programming or pay membership dues. The prohibition would also apply to any successor organizations to PBS or NPR. For fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be required to transfer to the U.S. Treasury an amount equal to the federal funds that would have been allocated to PBS and NPR to reduce the public debt. The bill takes effect upon enactment.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT] (R-UT)
Actions (2)
- Feb 11, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. · senate
- Feb 11, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 11, 2025
Mr. Lee introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To prohibit Federal funding for the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio and to provide for the transfer of certain Federal funds that would have been made available to those organizations to reduce the public debt, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Defund Government-Sponsored Propaganda Act”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL FUNDING FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE AND NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.
(a) In General.—After the date of enactment of this Act, no Federal funds may, directly or indirectly, be made available to or used to support an organization described in subsection (b), including through the payment of dues to or the purchase of programming from the organization by a public broadcast station using Federal funds received by the station.
(b) Organizations Described.—The organizations described in this subsection are—
(1) the organization known, as of the date of enactment of this Act, as the “Public Broadcasting Service”;
(2) the organization known, as of the date of enactment of this Act, as “National Public Radio”; and
(3) any successor organization to an organization described in paragraph (1) or (2).
(c) Transfer of Certain Funds To Reduce the Public Debt.—For fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting shall transfer to the account established by section 3113(d) of title 31, United States Code, an amount equal to the sum of the amounts allocated under clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 396(k)(3)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 396(k)(3)(A)) that would have been made available to an organization described in subsection (b) but for the prohibition in subsection (a). <all>
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