Major Hollywood Writers Union Panics as PBS, NPR Defunding Bill Clears House

One of Hollywood’s biggest writer’s unions is rushing to head off a law that would eliminate federal funding for PBS and NPR and is blasting those who are championing the measure as members of a “radical right-wing ideology.”

On Thursday, the House of Representatives in Washington passed H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025 by a slim three vote margin, 214-212. The bill slashes spending to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) as well as National Public Radio (NPR) and its network of thousands of public radio stations across the country. The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate.

In response, the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) blasted the pan to clawback $1.1 billion in federal spending, called it “radical,” and saying in a statement that the bill is “a radical right-wing ideology that aims to destroy a non-partisan public service despite all evidence of its wide benefits,” The Wrap reported.

WGAE praised PBS as a “public treasure” that the union claims “provides rural and urban households, classrooms and communities with accessible educational content.”

The union then ripped the reasons behind the budget cut.

“The House’s vote to strip money that had already been allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is fueled by a radical right-wing ideology that aims to destroy a non-partisan public service despite all evidence of its wide benefits,” the union said in its statement.

Oddly, the unions went on to claim that the federal government’s massive deficits are Trump’s fault.

“It is a total fabrication that these cuts will offset the massive debt that will be caused by the Trump Administration’s big, bad, billionaire-backed reconciliation bill,” the union bloviated. “This vote is an example of the richest people in the world taking money and resources away from everyone else. We urge the U.S. Senate to reject this shameful and destructive legislation.”

The U.S. Senate is expected to debate the bill next month.

For his part, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz blasted NPR as a left-wing bias machine and argued that it is “time for some accountability” in its operations.

Speaking at a Senate committee hearing in May, Cruz said it was long past time to “cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS.”

“The Communications Act requires public media entities, like NPR, to strictly adhere to ‘objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs on a controversial nature,’” the senator said. “Unfortunately, NPR does not. Last Congress, I put out a detailed report how NPR took millions in earmarked donations from left-wing mega-donors for very specific coverage.”

“After receiving those donations, NPR churned out content precisely mirroring its donors’ agendas,” Cruz continued. “Likewise, the Congressionally-chartered independent television service paid for documentaries like ‘Racist Trees’ to appear on PBS.”

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