Congress just voted to claw back $500 million in funding for public broadcasting. Benjamin Mullin, a media reporter for The New York Times, explains what will happen now to NPR, PBS and the many local stations that rely on the funding.

In voting for President Trump’s cancellation of $9 billion in spending they had already approved, Republicans in Congress showed they were willing to cede their power of the purse.

President Trump’s request to claw back $9 billion in congressionally approved spending passed despite objections from Republicans who said it abdicated the legislative branch’s power of the purse.

In a letter to Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, the head of a network of Native radio and television stations said a deal to ostensibly protect tribal stations was unworkable.

The vote to take up legislation to rescind $9 billion in congressionally approved funds suggested that Republicans would bow to the president’s wishes in the simmering fight over spending powers.