Thursday, March 17, 2011
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Albany Herald
Photo by Lindsey Grewe
Federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) will be cut if the U.S. House of Representatives has its way.
In a 228-192 vote split mostly along party lines, only seven Republican congressmen voted against the measure that would cut off what Rep. Tom Graves, R-Gainesville, called a "sacred cow."
"With our nation's debt exceeding $14 trillion, it's blatantly irresponsible to spend taxpayer dollars on a self sufficient organization like NPR," Graves said in a statement posted on his website late Thursday afternoon, pointing to the House efforts to trim the deficit.
NPR received almost $5 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2010. In that year, its revenues also included $2.8 million in dues and $63 million in programming fees from local stations, its largest single source of revenue. Under the bill, stations would still be allowed to buy NPR programs using private funds and use federal funds to produce their own programs.
Now, the bill will go to the Democratic-controlled Senate.
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