House votes to permanently ban NPR from receiving federal money
130 replies, posted
[url]http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/house-votes-to-cut-off-money-for-npr/?partner=rss&emc=rss[/url]
[release]The House voted on Thursday to cut off funding for National Public Radio, with Democrats and Republicans fiercely divided over both the content of the bill and the manner in which it was brought to the floor.
Under the measure, sponsored by Representative Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, stations could not buy programming from NPR or any other source using the $22 million the stations receive from the Treasury for that purpose. Local NPR stations would be able to use federal funds for operating expenses, but not content.
“The time has come for us to claw back this money,” said Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee.
This was the second time that the House has moved to defund NPR; a rider to take away its public monies was attached to a short-term spending bill passed last month by the House, but the measure ultimately failed in the Senate. Thursday’s measure, which House Republicans rushed to the floor before a one-week recess begins, passed 228 to 192, with a handful of Republicans voting no.
The bill is almost certain to fail in the Senate, should it even reach the floor there. In that chamber, which is controlled by Democrats, members of both parties have expressed skepticism about cutting off NPR because it remains popular among many of their constituents.
The organization, in the cross hairs of Republican lawmakers for years, came under intense fire recently with the release of a video that showed one of its fund-raising executives criticizing members of the Tea Party. Last year, NPR made headlines over the hasty firing of the commentator Juan Williams, for remarks he made on Fox News about fearing Muslims at airports.
Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican majority leader, said the revelations of the video, made by a conservative activist who posed as a potential NPR donor, “makes clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR.”
Democrats said politics, not fiscal austerity, drove the bill. “Why are we wasting valuable floor time on an ideological battle?” said Representative Louise Slaughter of New York.
The House debated the bill, and the procedure by which it was brought to the floor, for several hours Thursday, with Republicans arguing that NPR should be able to sustain itself through private donations, and Democrats countering that the cut would have a negligible impact on debt reduction or the nation’s fiscal problems. They further accused Republicans of ignoring joblessness to instead attack “Car Talk,” an NPR show.
Mr. Lamborn said that while he personally enjoyed NPR, “I have long believed it can stand on its own.” He added in a speech on the floor: “I want NPR to grow on its own, I want to see it thrive. Just remove taxpayers from the equation.”
Representative Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, said he saluted Republicans for trying to cut the federal budget, but added: “Why have a proposal that destroys institutions? Vermont Public Radio is the link between 251 towns, cities and villages in the state of Vermont. Farmers listen to it in their barns, parents listen to it on their way to bringing their kids to school, people at work listen to it for the weather reports and it welds together the political discussion in the state of Vermont, which is vibrant, which is varied, which has people with different points of view having a common reference point.”
Democrats also objected to the manner in which the bill was brought to the floor. On Wednesday, the House Rules Committee held an emergency hearing to expedite the bill, and it went to the floor under a so-called closed rule, which does not allow for amendments, counter to the promise of more openness made by Speaker John Boehner.
Republicans pointed out that the seven-page bill had already been debated when the larger spending bill was considered, and that the stand-alone measure was expedited so that the Republican-controlled House could be clear on its financing position.
During parliamentary inquiry into how much time was required to pass between the filing of the bill and the vote, there was booing, and Representative Ted Poe, who was presiding over the House floor, was forced to slam his gavel.
Before the vote, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called on supporters for money. In a fund-raising e-mail on Wednesday, the committee chairman, Steve Israel, wrote: “We can’t let this outrage go unchallenged. Republicans and their right-wing media backers are gearing up for this fight, and they’re hoping grass-roots Democrats like you will stay on the sidelines.”
[/release]
Wow, the Republicans sure are doing a lot to cut the deficit.
Between this and Planned Parenthood, we might have managed to cut it by half a percent! :rolleyes:
It's the house, they're batshit crazy. Still has to go through the Senate.
We don't need to cut out stuff like this from the budget, it's the absurd amount of money we're borrowing (and paying interest on). Cut these retarded fucking military pipedream programs that never get anywhere, these stupid fucking prototypes that absorb hundreds of millions of dollars.
Hell no. That is stupid. NPR is awesome! Radio Lab, This American Life, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me are fantastic programs as opposed to stupid things like Glenn Beck or Shawn Hannity. Fucking stupid.
NPR kicks ass, fuck those guys.
Thank god this crap won't pass the senate
[QUOTE=blacksam;28657075]Hell no. That is stupid. NPR is awesome! Radio Lab, This American Life, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me are fantastic programs as opposed to stupid things like Glenn Beck or Shawn Hannity. Fucking stupid.[/QUOTE]
Not to mention their news reporting is arguably the best in the US.
If NPR is so great how come it needs federal funding?
[QUOTE=PrismatexV8;28657143]Not to mention their news reporting is arguably the best in the US.[/QUOTE]
Second only to :foxnews:
can we vote to permanently ban the retard republicans from the house instead
I swear, Republicans are idiots. Honestly they fill up space and time with the religious bull shit that gives America a bad name.
Abortion, that is a no no.
Education? Hahaha nope.
Defense? YES YES YES TERRORISTS ARE AMONG US! TO ARMS! TO ARMS!
HEY WE NEED TO CUT MONEY TO STABILIZE THINGS!
BUT DON'T STOP FUNDING RANDOM THINGS!!!!
:downs:
Another political move by the Republicans justified by their want to "cut the budget"(when in actuality this will literally do nothing to the budget)
Does Fox receive federal funding? cut that instead, they're fecking useless anyway.
Where's Glaber at I'm missing his spewing of FOX news bullshit and his republican agenda
I wonder if they're still human enough for bile to come in their throat when they lie arguing that this is for the budget when it does nothing for the budget and everything for silencing opposition.
[QUOTE=JohnEdwards;28657213]HEY WE NEED TO CUT MONEY TO STABILIZE THINGS!
BUT DON'T STOP FUNDING RANDOM THINGS!!!!
:downs:[/QUOTE]
Cutting NPR is the equivalent of a few dollars on a $500,000 debt. There are much bigger cuts that could be made.
[QUOTE=PrismatexV8;28658134]Cutting NPR is the equivalent of a few dollars on a $500,000 debt. There are much bigger cuts that could be made.[/QUOTE]
Have you never been to Tesco's
Democrats control the Senate, it won't make it through.
[QUOTE=PrismatexV8;28658134]Cutting NPR is the equivalent of a few dollars on a $500,000 debt. There are much bigger cuts that could be made.[/QUOTE]
Thinking like that is pretty much what led to the deficit in the first place.
I've never really listened to NPR, but they have a reputation for being politically left. I guess this isn't the best place to ask, but would you (facepunch) agree with that sentiment?
If that's the case, then it really shouldn't receive federal funding, in my opinion.
[QUOTE=Regulas021;28658482]Thinking like that is pretty much what led to the deficit in the first place.
I've never really listened to NPR, but they have a reputation for being politically left. I guess this isn't the best place to ask, but would you (facepunch) agree with that sentiment?
If that's the case, then it really shouldn't receive federal funding, in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
The right brands them as leftist because they don't blatantly support a right-wing viewpoint like Fox News.
Listen to some of NPR's reporting or read articles on their site, and you'd be hard-pressed to find evidence of bias.
[QUOTE=PrismatexV8;28658510]The right brands them as leftist because they don't blatantly support a right-wing viewpoint like Fox News.
Listen to some of NPR's reporting or read articles on their site, and you'd be hard-pressed to find evidence of bias.[/QUOTE]
They're the most unbiased station, they're like our BBC news.
As he often does, Anthony Weiner says it best:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy7jcvsLrHg[/media]
[QUOTE=PrismatexV8;28658134]Cutting NPR is the equivalent of a few dollars on a $500,000 debt. There are much bigger cuts that could be made.[/QUOTE]
So then they should be able to survive off of donations and ads like any other public radio right?
[QUOTE=JohnEdwards;28659129]So then they should be able to survive off of donations and ads like any other public radio right?[/QUOTE]
if you call constantly being on the edge of financial failure "surviving"
npr provides excellent reportage and, in doing so, provides an invaluable service to this country. Plus the amount of money the government gives to NPR is chump change, the republicans wanting to de-fund it is nothing other than petulant, childish politics justified by nothing except that dumb stunt that O'Keefe pulled
I like their music programmes
both bjork and thom yorke DJ'd for them and it was wicked
[QUOTE=zombieslaya;28657164]If NPR is so great how come it needs federal funding?[/QUOTE]
Because even though they are slightly left leaning (not in their reporting, but in their choice of topics to report on), the actual reporting is unbiased. The problem is non-sensationalist media doesn't have entertainment value which means no money from the sheeple.
[QUOTE=zombieslaya;28657164]If NPR is so great how come it needs federal funding?[/QUOTE]
It doesn't, it makes a net income of like 19 million dollars though, so they're not doing too bad. They definitely don't need federal funding.
[QUOTE=Bllasae;28659563]It doesn't, it makes a net income of like 19 million dollars though, so they're not doing too bad. They definitely don't need federal funding.[/QUOTE]
I wonder what happens once 20-25 million dollars of federal money gets pulled?
Oh, right, they would start operating at a loss.
[QUOTE=Kagrenak;28659625]I wonder what happens once 20-25 million dollars of federal money gets pulled?
Oh, right, they would start operating at a loss.[/QUOTE]
There's NO way that it costs 20-25 million to operate it.
are you saying that because you know that or are you just guessing
[editline]17th March 2011[/editline]
because it sounds like you have no idea how much it costs to run a nationwide radio service and so you're basing your assumption on how much it costs on supporting your "de-fund them" sentiment
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