GOP: Full speed ahead on defunding NPR
By: Byron York 03/09/11 11:55 PM
Chief Political Correspondent
Washimgton Examiner.com
After the release of the James O'Keefe sting video Tuesday, National Public Radio officials rushed to fire NPR head Vivian Schiller in hopes of slowing Republican efforts to cut federal funding for public broadcasting. But GOP leaders in Congress are vowing to push forward with their drive to cut off federal funding for National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- and they say the effort will not be affected by Schiller's departure.
"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," said Rep. Doug Lamborn, the Colorado Republican who is leading the effort to defund both NPR and CPB.
"Our concern is not about any one person at NPR," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "Rather, it's about millions of taxpayers. NPR has admitted that they don't need taxpayer subsidies to thrive, and at a time when the government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar that it spends, we certainly agree with them."
In an interview with the Associated Press, Schiller made clear that the NPR board pushed her to resign because board members feared her continued presence might have hurt NPR's chances of defeating the Republican drive to defund public broadcasting. "I did not want to leave NPR," Schiller told AP. "There's a lot of pressure on NPR right now. It would have made it too difficult for stations to face that funding threat in Congress without this change." The AP reported "Schiller said she and the board concluded that her 'departure from NPR would help to mitigate the threat from those who have misperceptions about NPR as a news organization.'"
If NPR board members hope Schiller's firing will change the dynamics on Capitol Hill, they're likely mistaken. Republicans have wanted to defund NPR for many years -- long before the arrival and departure of Vivian Schiller. It is unrealistic to believe that one firing, even at the highest level, would change a view Republicans have held for so long.
Meanwhile Democrats, faced with the task of supporting continued federal funding for NPR in light of the sting tape, are re-casting their arguments in defense of public radio. "The fact of the matter is that NPR is not the most important part of the public broadcasting the debate," said Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a public broadcasting supporter who brought PBS cartoon character "Arthur the Aardvark" to Capitol Hill recently to lobby for continued federal funding. The real issue, Blumenauer said, is public broadcasting stations, which would lose part of their funding (estimated at 10 percent) if federal funds were shut off. "Not only do our local public broadcasting stations provide us with valuable information, but they also directly support 21,000 jobs in hundreds of communities across America," Blumenauer said. "These jobs would be at risk if small stations that rely on federal funding were forced to close their doors." (Blumenauer did not mention that Ron Schiller, the now-departed NPR executive who appeared in the sting video, said in the video that he not only thought NPR would "be better off in the long run without federal funding" but that if federal funding were cut off, "NPR would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive.")
Finally, the White House found itself struggling Wednesday to find its voice on the NPR matter. Asked why the administration supports continued federal funding for NPR and public broadcasting in light of crushing budget deficits, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "We think they are worthwhile and important priorities, as our budget makes clear." Asked to elaborate, Carney said, "I don't think people here want to get into the history of public broadcasting and public radio and why successive administrations of both parties have felt that it’s worthwhile. But suffice it to say that we do."
That non-elaboration brought a quick response from the Republican National Committee. "When asked directly and repeatedly at today’s press briefing, the administration could not provide one good reason why taxpayers should continue to subsidize NPR to the tune of $400 million dollars, money that NPR itself has acknowledged they don't need," said RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski. "The fact that the White House can’t defend but insists on showering hundreds of millions of dollars on NPR in the midst of a fiscal crisis shows this administration has zero credibility on addressing their addiction to spending."
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