WASHINGTON – The US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to end federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR), following recent controversies that entangled some of the organisation’s senior executives.
Republicans said the move, which passed by a vote of 228-192, was motivated by the need to cut spending in the face of a record federal budget deficit.
Democrats argued the Bill was a thinly veiled ideological attack on an institution that some Republicans have long criticised for what they see as its liberal bias.
The measure’s prospects beyond the Republican-led House appear doubtful as Democrats control the Senate and President Barack Obama, who opposed the Bill, could veto it.
NPR, which has about 27 million listeners, was shaken last week when chief executive Vivian Schiller resigned after the organisation’s chief fundraiser was secretly videotaped making disparaging remarks about members of the conservative Tea Party movement and questioning whether NPR needed government funding.
The organisation also aroused the anger of conservative media and Republican critics last year when it fired news analyst Juan Williams after he made controversial comments about Muslims.
Only about 2 per cent of NPR’s budget comes from the federal government. But member stations are heavily reliant on funding from federal and state governments.
NPR said it was concerned about the impact the Bill would have on the entire public radio system. “The Bill is a direct effort to weaken public radio that ultimately choke local stations’ ability to serve their audiences,” it said in a statement. “Many small-budget stations would be placed in a a serious financial bind.” Under the House-passed Bill, affiliate stations could not use federal funds to pay for NPR-produced programmes or member dues.
Republicans said the measure would save up to $60 million a year.
“It’s time to reflect the common sense of the American people,” House majority leader Eric Cantor said on the floor.
Democratic defenders of NPR said many of its programmes had little or no ideological content, and that conservative and Republican criticism was less about making its political tone balanced than tilting it to the right.– (Reuters)