The House pulls the plug on NPR and PBS in a late-night funding fight as President Donald Trump&#8217;s plan gets final approval. Another top Biden aide pleads the Fifth in a congressional hearing about the former president’s competency. And we talk to the president of the Chicago Fed about the upcoming interest rate vote and the feud between Trump and Powell.
It’s Friday, July 18, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2>Congress Approves Funding Cuts To PBS &amp; NPR</h2>
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Topline: In the early hours of Friday morning, the House gave final approval to President Trump&#8217;s plan to claw back $9 billion in funding to global aid and government-funded media after the Senate narrowly passed a measure early Thursday. It now heads to Trump&#8217;s desk.
In June, the White House formally requested that Congress rescind $1.1 billion in funding that had already been allocated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. Early Thursday morning, after hours of debate, the Senate voted 51-48 to approve the measure. 
Democrats say NPR and PBS represent America’s commitment to a free press and provide essential services for all people, particularly those in rural communities. They also argue that public broadcasting plays a major role in emergency preparedness and community safety.
“When a flood happens, when a tornado touches down, when a hurricane makes landfall, people need immediate, up-to-date alerts to stay safe,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer(D-NY) argued in a speech on the Senate floor. “All too often, public broadcasting is the only way for people to hear what’s going on. It’s a matter of life and death.&#8221;
Republicans say that’s a ridiculous argument given how many ways people now receive warnings about natural disasters.
“All broadcasters are required to broadcast emergency alerts,” Tim Graham, host of NewsBusters at the Media Research Center told The Daily Wire. “Today, everybody&#8217;s going to get emergency alerts on their cell phone. So the idea that you need NPR to learn of a flash flood alert – I mean, first of all, you have to assume that there&#8217;s a huge number of people listening to NPR at 10 p.m. &#8230; It’s just not true.”
Republicans have argued for decades that NPR and PBS are not balanced news sources and that both organizations lean heavily to the Left. “Recently, we counted labels,” Graham told The Daily Wire. “[The PBS Newshour] used &#8216;far-Right&#8217; labels 42 times as often as they used &#8216;far-Left&#8217; … And the interesting thing here was that Donald Trump got elected with a Republican Congress, they could see the writing on the wall, and PBS and NPR made no attempt to move to the center to try to be fairer, to try to be more balanced. If anything, they have doubled down in 2025. They were basically suggesting they didn&#8217;t care what the Republican opinion was on their product.”
<h2>Biden WH Aide Pleads The Fifth In Congressional Testimony</h2>
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Topline: Former first lady Jill Biden’s top aide testified to Congress on Wednesday. Anthony Bernal, who has been close to the Biden family since 2008, pleaded the Fifth seven times in response to investigators&#8217; questions.
Bernal, Jill Biden’s chief of staff, refused to answer a slate of questions around former president Biden’s health – instead invoking his Constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination. Bernal was a top trusted aide in the Biden White House – Jill often referred to him as her “work husband.”
When asked by the House Oversight Committee if President Biden was fit to exercise his duties, Bernal said, “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.”
Last week, Biden’s White House doctor Kevin O’Connor refused to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment rights and <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/doctor-patient_privilege">doctor-patient privilege</a>. Legally, invoking the Fifth is <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/532/17.html">not</a> an admission of guilt, and most criminal lawyers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE">highly discourage</a> their clients from sharing anything with authorities that might conceivably be used against them. Nevertheless, many Republicans are concerned about the concerted coverup of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and want to know who was running the Biden administration if he wasn’t.
In their book, &#8220;Original Sin,&#8221; a deep dive into the Biden White House and his re-election effort, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson described Bernal as “[one of] the Bidens’ eyes and ears, the keepers of the flame, the protectors of the myth. &#8230; As we researched this book, it was difficult to find many Bernal defenders. … He freely trash-talked senior, mid-level and junior aides. … Some described him as the worst person they had ever met.”
Despite their reticence, Bernal and O’Connor could be compelled to testify by Congress – if they were offered immunity for any crimes revealed by their testimony, then the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination would no longer apply, although in O’Connor’s case, doctor-patient privilege could shield him from certain questions.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told Fox News that Bernal could not say that Biden was mentally well without lying under oath, which is why he pleaded the Fifth. Comer also suggested that he would like to see more of Biden’s inner circle testify before his committee, including Jill Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
<h2>Federal Reserve Meeting</h2>
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Topline: As President Trump ramps up pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the Fed is preparing for a meeting at the end of the month to decide whether to cut interest rates – as the president is demanding.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), spoke to The Daily Wire shortly before the upcoming July 29-30 meeting and offered his perspective on current economic data.
Goolsbee described the latest inflation data as &#8220;a little bit of a mixed bag,&#8221; noting positive trends in services and housing inflation, but expressing wariness about &#8220;actual physical goods&#8221; where &#8220;tariffs are going to increase the prices a bit.&#8221; Despite this, he remains &#8220;still hopeful that we&#8217;re in a pretty solid place on the economy,&#8221; citing sustained growth and &#8220;close to full employment&#8221; as key strengths, with the primary goal being to keep &#8220;inflation on path back to 2 percent.&#8221;
A public dispute between President Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell has brought the issue of central bank independence into sharp focus. Goolsbee, while unable to speak for the entire Fed, voiced his unease about such arguments. He emphasized that the reason &#8220;all the rich countries of the world have an independent central bank – that&#8217;s independent of political interference – is precisely because if you look at places where they don&#8217;t have central bank independence, inflation is higher, unemployment is higher, growth is worse.&#8221; He underscored the imperative that interest rate decisions &#8220;should be rooted in that dual mandate: stabilizing prices and maximizing employment,&#8221; adding, &#8220;That&#8217;s the critical element, should be economic conditions that drive the decisions.&#8221;
Regarding the immediate outlook for interest rates, Goolsbee maintained his usual cautious stance ahead of the meeting and further data, stating, &#8220;I don&#8217;t like tying our hands before the meetings.&#8221; However, he indicated a general inclination toward lower rates if conditions allow. He noted that his view prior to April 2 was that &#8220;we got pretty close to stable full employment. We got inflation trending down to 2% — and in an environment like that, I think rates can go down a fair bit more than from where they are today.&#8221;

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Morning Brief: Congress Cuts Funding For PBS & NPR, Biden’s Decline Investigated, Fed Meeting