Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, WHITE HOUSE NEWS—Trump administration actions create Religious Liberty Commission, cut off funding to NPR and PBS, (May 2, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

One executive order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cease direct funding and seeks to eliminate any indirect funding of NPR and PBS.

A Trump administration executive order (EO) establishes the Religious Liberty Commission, which will advise the White House on religious liberty policies of the U.S. A second EO ceases direct federal funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Finally, the Trump administration has proclaimed May 1, 2025, as Loyalty Day to “reaffirm our loyalty to the Constitution.”

Religious Liberty Commission. Citing federal, state, and local policies that “have threatened America’s unique and beautiful tradition of religious liberty,” a May 1, 2025, executive order from President Trump establishes the Religious Liberty Commission. The commission will be composed of up to 14 members appointed by the president and must include the U.S. Attorney General, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy or designated ex officio members or senior officials. Members may include individuals chosen to serve as educated representatives of various sectors of society, including the private sector, employers, and educational institutions, religious communities, and states, to provide diverse perspective on how the government can defend Americans’ religious liberty.

The Commission will advise the White House Faith Office and the Domestic Policy Council on religious liberty policies of the U.S., recommend steps to secure domestic religious liberty by executive or legislative actions, and identify opportunities for the Faith Office to partner with the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. The Commission will terminate on July 4, 2026, unless extended by the president.

NPR and PBS funding. A May 1, 2025, EO by the Trump administration ceases direct funding to NPR and PBS, “to ensure that federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage.” The EO instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and to decline to provide future funding. It also instructed the CPB Board to cease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations do not use federal funds for NPR and PBS.

The EO further directs that the CPB Board revise the general provisions and eligibility criteria of the 2025 Television Community Service Grants, the 2025 Radio Community Service Grants, the 2024 Radio Community Service Grants, and applicable law and take all other necessary steps to minimize or eliminate its indirect funding of NPR and PBS. The EO further instructs agency heads to identify and terminate any direct or indirect funding of NPR and PBS. For any remaining grants, contracts, or other funding instruments entered into with NPR or PBS, agency heads are directed to determine whether NPR and PBS are in compliance with the terms of those instruments and take appropriate steps in the event of a finding of noncompliance. Finally, the EO directs the Secretary of HHS to determine whether NPR or PBS are complying with statutory mandates against discrimination in employment.

Loyalty day. To “reaffirm our loyalty to the Constitution” and “renew our pledge to preserve and protect our glorious inheritance of fairness, equality, and freedom against all threats, foreign and domestic,” President Trump proclaimed May 1, 2025, as Loyalty Day and, in accordance with P.L. 98-20, as Law Day, U.S.A. First proclaimed in 1955 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Loyalty Day was intended to counter the commemorations of May Day, which purported was celebrated by communist groups. In recent years, the proclamation states, “our constitutional heritage faced an existential threat from a political class that abandoned justice in favor of political retribution.” The proclamation further states that, under the previous administration, federal law enforcement agencies “outrageously allowed violent criminals to roam our streets with impunity while targeting parents, churchgoers, political opponents, and ordinary citizens.” The proclamation stressed that, under the Trump administration, federal law enforcement agencies are being guided by the “cornerstone American principles of fairness and impartiality” and that “the constitutional rights of every American citizen are being swiftly restored.”

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