Written by: Tom Rieland
Date: March 17, 2011
The House passed the bill today to defund NPR by disallowing any direct federal funding to NPR and any funds from local stations going to either NPR or any other national distributor of programming (PRI, Am. Public Media, BBC, etc.). The vote was 228 to 192.
It was not exactly down party lines as 7 Republican Congressmen voted against the bill. Columbus Rep. Pat Tiberi was one of those seven and we’re very pleased the Congressman understood the impact such a law would have on local stations attempting to provide the programming required to grow listenership and membership. The restrictive nature of the bill would’ve especially been damaging to small public stations across America.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. More chapters to this saga ahead.
FYI – The seven Republicans who voted against the bill included Congressmen Duffy (WI), Gibson (NY), LaTourette(OH), Reichert (WA), Woodall (GA), Hanna (NY), and Tiberi (OH).