WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Thursday to prohibit federal money from funding National Public Radio (NPR).
The bill, which passed in a 228-192 vote along party lines, bans direct funding of NPR, prohibits public radio stations from using government money to purchase NPR programming, and forbids stations from using taxpayer dollars to pay dues to NPR. One lawmaker voted present.
Under the measure, public radio stations will still be free to use private money to purchase NPR programming and pay its dues.
NPR received over $5 million in taxpayer dollars in direct funding during the 2010 fiscal year. The broadcaster also received $2.8 million in dues from over 400 public radio stations.
Its biggest source of revenue, however, comes in the form of public radio stations that purchase its programming. Under current law, roughly 26 percent of government grants to public radio stations must be used for national programming which results in many buying content from NPR. During the 2010 fiscal year, NPR took in $56 million in such revenue.
The bill introduced by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), is separate from a previous vote by the House to slash funding for NPR’s parent company, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), for the rest of the fiscal year in an effort to cut billions from the federal budget.
Instead, the legislation will block federal funding from other government entities such as the Commerce Department, the National Endowment of the Arts and the Department of Education.
Critics of the bill say that it would harm radio stations in rural areas, which use NPR for news broadcasts and other content.
NPR’s member stations receive an average of about 10 percent of their funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which received $430 million in federal funding for fiscal 2011, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Obama administration slammed the bill, saying it would “unacceptably” halt the federal funding that many local radio stations rely on.
“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,” a statement released by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget read.
The vote comes a week after NPR head fundraiser, Ron Schiller, resigned following the release of a secretly-recorded video in which he made disparaging remarks about Republicans and the Tea Party and was seen telling potential donors that the broadcaster “would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive” if federal funding was revoked.
Further, ex-NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation to Ron) resigned a day later under pressure from the broadcaster’s board. Schiller previously came under heavy criticism for the October firing of journalist Juan Williams over comments he made on Fox News Channel about about Muslims on airplanes.
“The problem is we’ve seen NPR and its programming veer far from what Americans would like to see as far as the expenditure of their tax dollars,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on the House floor prior to the vote. He also noted that NPR executives had admitted on tape that they could survive without federal funding, citing the incident as an example of why NPR was a prime target for cuts during a time when everyone was tightening their belts.
Republican Lamborn said his legislation has nothing to do with the most recent controversies, noting that he had introduced the legislation last year, before Williams was fired.
“The point being debated today is whether government programs and services that can be funded privately, or that are otherwise available in the private sector, should receive taxpayer funding,” Lamborn said.
The legislation is unlikely to be passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate.