Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Col., is the author of the House’s legislation that would defund NPR. He wasn’t in Congress in 2005, when the GOP House restored Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding that had been zeroed out by George W. Bush’s planners. He represents, and leads, a school of Republicans who believe NPR and the CPB 1) should not be funded by taxpayers and 2) would thrive and survive if they were cut off.
This is his reaction to the departure of NPR CEO Vivian Schiller:
This latest development in what appears to be an internal meltdown at National Public Radio only strengthens my resolve to eliminate all federal funding for NPR and its parent organization, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
I have been seeking to push Big Bird out of the nest for over a year, based on the simple fact that we can no longer afford to spend taxpayer dollars on non-essential government programs. It’s time for Big Bird to earn his wings and learn to fly on his own.
If you can remember back to Monday, this was supposed to be the week of NPR’s big fightback against Lamborn et al.
UPDATE: By the way, I clarified with Eric Cantor’s spokeswoman Leana Fallon that when the leader talks about defunding NPR, he means defunding NPR and the CPB.
“He supports doing both,” said Fallon. “HR 1 zeroed out CPB, but on YouCut last year we also zeroed out NPR. NPR receives most of its government funding through CPB, but does also get some money from a few other government agencies.”
