NPR and other public radio outlets could be hit by the cuts.

US president Donald Trump is expected to slash national arts funding in his first federal budget plan, announced later today (March 16), the New York Times reports.

Trump has proposed eliminating both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, independent federal agencies that have made a vital contribution to the cultural landscape of the US for over five decades, including grants for jazz and classical musicians.

He is also expected to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports NPR, PBS and other public TV and radio outlets.

Funding for the national endowments currently makes up a tiny amount of the $4 trillion federal budget – just 0.003%, while the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s annual budget stands at less than $500 million.

This is the first time a US president has called for revoking the endowments, which were created under Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.

Today’s announcement is just a blueprint for spending. A full budget, including economic and tax projections, will come in May.

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