Last month, four Republicans had voted against the bill in the House.
President Donald Trump warned Republicans he would not endorse them if they vote against the $9.4 billion rescissions bill that is to be passed in the Senate, he said in a July 11 post on Truth Social.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, defund the corporation for public broadcasting (PBS and NPR),” Trump said.
He criticized the two public broadcasters, saying they were worse than CNN and MSNBC.
“Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement,” he added.
Out of the $9.4 billion worth of rescissions in the bill, roughly $1.1 billion is spending cuts targeted at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a nonprofit established by Congress that distributes funds to more than 1,600 public television and radio stations such as PBS and NPR.
On June 12, the House of Representatives passed the bill by a narrow margin of 214–212. While all 208 Democrats who voted on the matter voted against the bill, four out of the 218 Republicans also voted against it—Reps. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), and Michael Turner (R-Ohio). The Senate must now vote on the bill.
In a June 12 statement, Amodei said there needs to be more debate on the matter.
“Before we trigger major consequences for our local public broadcasting stations throughout the West and other rural areas, we need more discussion,” he said.
“If we do not have time to think about it, we sure as hell have time to talk about it before October 1st when the impacts of these rescinded funds would start to be felt.
“I agree we must make meaningful cuts to shrink our federal deficit; however, I would be doing a disservice to the thousands of rural constituents in my district if I did not fight to keep their access to the rest of the world and news on the air.”
