Filed under: House, Democrats, Republicans, Media, Congress
As expected, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Thursday to ban federal money for National Public Radio, but the bill might not be taken up by the Senate and faces opposition from the Obama administration.The measure, sponsored by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), also would prevent member stations from using taxpayer dollars to pay dues to NPR or acquire programming from it. Stations could still use federal money for administrative expenses associated with day-to-day operations.
The bill passed 228 to 192 in a largely party-line vote.
"Let me be clear, this measure will not prohibit local stations from receiving any funding," Lamborn said Thursday, according to Politico. "It will just not allow them from using taxpayer money to fund NPR programming and dues. They can do it without federal dollars by embracing the private sector. I want NPR to grow on its own. I'd like it to thrive. Just remove the taxpayers from the equation."
Ad Week quoted Rep. Ed Markey, (D-Mass.), as saying the legislation would "would drive Car Talk off the road and would wipe Lake Wobegon right off the map. It would close down Marketplace and [tell] Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me to take a hike."
NPR says its receives a small number of competitive grants from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and agencies such as the Departments of Education and Commerce. This funding amounts to approximately 2 percent of NPR's overall revenues. The largest share of its money comes from program fees and dues paid by member stations.Lamborn's bill took the fast track to the House floor after the House Rules Committee on Wednesday declared an emergency meeting to vote on the measure - a procedure allies of public radio criticized.
Earlier Thursday, the administration said in a statement that it "strongly opposes" the bill.
"The vast majority of CPB's funding for public radio goes to more than 700 stations across the country, many of them local stations serving communities that rely on them for access to news and public safety information. Undercutting funding for these radio stations, notably ones in rural areas where such outlets are already scarce, would result in communities losing valuable programming, and some stations could be forced to shut down altogether."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also said he opposed the bill.
The latest move to defund NPR follows the release of a secretly taped video by a conservative activist purportedly showing former NPR fundraising executive Ron Schiller criticizing Republicans and tea party activists during a meeting with phony Muslim donors. However, analysts who examined the full version of the video suggested the editing was misleading and left out important context for the controversial remarks.
Ron Schiller had already announced he was leaving NPR for another job when the video surfaced last week. His departure was accelerated. Then NPR's president and chief executive, Vivian Schiller (no relation), resigned abruptly.
In February, the House passed a massive budget-cutting bill that, among other things, would rescind all federal funding this year for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps support NPR. The Senate rejected that measure. A stopgap spending bill passed by the House and Senate this week to keep the government operating for three more weeks contains $50 million in cuts to the CPB. It is now goes to President Obama.