FCC Chairman Brendan Carr: Draining the Taxpayer-Funded NPR and PBS Swamp

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) activity won’t naturally garner the screaming headlines of other Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse within our seemingly bottomless federal government swamp.  

New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, however, already merits appreciation for taking a spearhead role in that reform effort after casting his eyes upon questionable behavior and taxpayer subsidies at National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).  

Carr’s impressive early track record should come as no surprise, considering his previous work in the first Trump administration alongside former Chairman Ajit Pai in ending the disastrous big-government “Net Neutrality” debacle before it inflicted even more harm upon our nation’s vital internet service sector.  

Nevertheless, in a decisive action emblematic of the Trump administration’s commitment to eliminating government inefficiency and increasing fiscal responsibility, Carr has initiated a comprehensive investigation into taxpayer-subsidized NPR and PBS regarding potential misuse of taxpayer dollars and to address longstanding concern regarding their left-leaning biases.  

Specifically, Chairman Carr expressed concern that NPR and PBS may have aired prohibited commercial ads under the guise of “sponsorships” to the networks.  That not only misuses taxpayer subsidies, but also contravenes FCC regulations and undermines any remaining rationale for federal funding for them:  

I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials.  In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.  …  For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS, given the changes in the media marketplace.  

Critics have long highlighted how NPR and PBS betray a leftist partisan bias in their programming, so examining them at long last can finally help ensure that taxpayers aren’t forced to subsidize content that not only doesn’t represent the broader spectrum of viewpoints but descends into state-sponsored propaganda of sorts.  

As noted above, Carr’s recent endeavor echoes his previous iconoclasm against left-wing institutions and norms.  Alongside former FCC Chairman Pai, he propelled repeal of so-called “Net Neutrality” in 2017.  That counterproductive scheme under the Obama/Biden administration sought to impose heavy-handed government regulation of internet service providers as “public utilities” under laws enacted during the Great Depression for copper-wire telephones.  Those regulations quickly caused private broadband investment to decline for the first time in history outside of an economic recession, thereby threatening innovation and critical infrastructure buildout.  

By repealing that short-lived regime, the FCC, under Pai and Carr, restored a market-driven approach that increased investment and innovation.  As a result, the United States was better prepared for the Covid pandemic’s dramatic increase in internet use.  

In any event, Chairman Carr’s scrutiny of NPR and PBS is not an isolated administration endeavor but rather part of a concerted effort to reassess how taxpayer funds are used in ways that don’t align with the broader public interest.  Most visible in that effort is the Trump administration’s DOGE, led by Elon Musk.  DOGE’s mandate initiates a thorough reevaluation of federal agencies and spending to correct instances of fiscal mismanagement and operational redundancy.  Those efforts have already resulted in significant reform across multiple departments, including agencies like the largely wasteful United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  

Chairman Carr’s immediate investigation into NPR and PBS epitomizes that broader strategy, with the additional benefit of targeting their longstanding partisan biases.  If successful, the administration’s effort to hold publicly funded entities to more rigorous standards and ensure that taxpayer dollars are allocated more judiciously can finally begin to restore public trust in federal government institutions.  

The Trump administration is finally prioritizing the interests of taxpayers and ensuring that the government serves the public interest, no longer institutionalized left-wing special interests.  

In his own ongoing effort, Chairman Carr is also bringing the additional potential upside of cultivating a more balanced media landscape at long last.  With his track record in the first Trump administration and now his efforts as the new FCC chief, Carr stands as a leading figure in the overdue effort toward federal government reform and heightened fiscal responsibility.

Timothy H. Lee is Senior Vice President of legal and public affairs at the Center for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.org).

Reprinted with Permission from CFIF.org – By Timothy H. Lee

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.