Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 26, 2025
Defund NPR Act
This bill prohibits federal funding of National Public Radio (NPR) or any successor organization. The prohibition includes the payment of dues to or the purchase of programming from NPR by a public broadcast station using federal funds.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Read the proposal in plain language
AI-generated · Source-checked by AI · Nov 2, 2026
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-26 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
What it would do
The proposed Defund NPR Act would prohibit federal money from supporting National Public Radio (NPR) or any successor organization, directly or indirectly. Public broadcast stations could not use federal funds to pay NPR membership dues or buy its programming. The restriction would begin after enactment. The supplied text is an introduced bill, not evidence that these restrictions became law.
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After the date of enactment of the Defund NPR Act, no Federal funds may, directly or indirectly, be made available to or used to support an organization described in paragraph (2), 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.
(A) the organization known, as of the date of enactment of the Defund NPR Act, as National Public Radio; and (B) any successor organization to the organization described in subparagraph (A).
Section 2 would add the funding prohibition to the Communications Act of 1934. It would apply after enactment to both direct federal funding and indirect federal support, expressly including public broadcast stations’ purchases of programming and payments of dues using federal funds.
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Section 396 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 396) is amended by adding at the end the following:
After the date of enactment of the Defund NPR Act, no Federal funds may, directly or indirectly, be made available to or used to support an organization described in paragraph (2), 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.
The prohibition would cover the organization known as NPR on the enactment date and any organization that succeeds it.
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(2) Organizations described The organizations described in this paragraph are— (A) the organization known, as of the date of enactment of the Defund NPR Act, as National Public Radio; and (B) any successor organization to the organization described in subparagraph (A).
The bill would also delete references to NPR from three existing Communications Act provisions: the first sentence of section 396(k)(4), every occurrence in section 396(k)(9), and section 398(b)(1). The supplied bill does not reproduce those provisions, so it does not establish their full meaning before or after these deletions.
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(1) in section 396(k) (47 U.S.C. 396(k))— (A) in paragraph (4), in the first sentence, by striking or National Public Radio; and (B) in paragraph (9), by striking or National Public Radio each place that term appears; and (2) in section 398(b)(1) (47 U.S.C. 398(b)(1)), by striking and National Public Radio.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated December 5, 2025, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on February 26, 2025. It does not establish subsequent legislative action or enactment.
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Source snapshot updated 2025-12-05T22:01:11Z.
2025-02-26: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
2025-02-26: Introduced in House
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-26. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not cover other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish the contents of other versions, disclosures, or accompanying materials.
Other targeted benefits
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow benefit, preferential exemption, or carve-out was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not cover other versions or accompanying materials.
What this analysis cannot establish
The bundle contains the complete introduced text and a dated actions snapshot, but no later bill versions or evidence of passage or enactment. Missing history does not prove that the bill never advanced or became law.
The existing Communications Act provisions being amended are not reproduced. Their broader operation and the full effects of deleting NPR references cannot be determined from this bundle.
The introduced text specifies no express exceptions, expiration date, dedicated enforcement mechanism, or transition rules beyond applying the prohibition after enactment. It does not define “indirectly” or “successor organization.”
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Dec 5, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI