Trump’s 2020 budget calls for eliminating funding for PBS and NPR

Once again, the Trump administration is proposing that federal funding for the arts, public broadcasting, and other cultural centers, be eliminated.

President Trump‘s 2020 budget calls for eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finds stations like PBS and NPR, along with the National Endowment for the Arts.

This isn’t the first time Trump has proposed the cuts, which were part of his previous two budgets.

The budget, which was released this Monday, calls for cutting $435 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, which would cause their eventual shutdown.

“Most of the eliminations and reductions in this volume reflect a continuation of policies proposed in the 2018 and 2019 President’s Budgets that have not yet been enacted by the Congress and highlight the Administration’s efforts to eliminate wasteful or unnecessary spending,” according to the budget document.

Even though Trump called for the eliminations in his previous budgets, the GOP-led Congress ignored his requests both times.

“For a modest investment of about $1.35 per citizen per year, public television provides school readiness for children, support for teachers and caregivers, public safety communications and lifelong learning through high-quality content,” PBS president and chief executive Paula Kerger said in a statement, according to The New York Times.

Writing for NeimanLab, Joshua Benton says that the cuts are unlikely to happen but the messaging is still damaging.

“A presidential budget is essentially a messaging tool these days, a way to show your supporters that you’re addressing their priorities; Congress has to actually decide where real money will go,” Benton writes. “Just about every member of Congress has a public radio or TV station in his or her district; any transition from rhetoric to reality would be felt back home. But it’s also because public broadcasting is actually pretty popular and pretty trusted by Americans.”

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Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.