President Donald Trump said Tuesday that PBS and NPR are “a waste of money,” having convinced the Republican-led Congress to gut funding for U.S. public media last year.
Watch the clip in the video player above.
The president made the comment moments before signing legislation passed earlier in the day by the House of Representatives to fund most of the government through the end of September and end the partial government shutdown.
WATCH: House passes bill on government funding to end partial shutdown
Trump’s remarks were not the first time he has singled out PBS and NPR. Earlier in the year, the president said incorrectly during a White House news conference that he heard the two networks were “closed up.”
While the rescission of federal funding and the dissolution of the CPB resulted in layoffs, programming cancellations and operational changes at stations across the country, PBS and NPR continue to air news, arts and other programming on television, radio and online platforms.
The Trump administration signed legislation last summer to claw back about $1.1 billion of previously approved federal funding for public broadcasting. That move mainly affected the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the independent nonprofit organization that distributed federal funds to PBS, NPR, public media programming and more than 1,500 local stations. The corporation’s board voted earlier this year to dissolve itself in January.
