Lois Capps: “I thank the ranking member of the committee. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this effort to defund public…”

“I thank the ranking member of the committee. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this effort to defund public radio. Right now, millions of Americans tune in to NPR stations across the country for one reason, the consistency of the high quality of its programming. In a world awash by often ill-informed and sensationalist cable news and ever louder voices, public broadcasting provides thoughtful, even-handed analysis of the issues of the day. And they do it every day. The bill before us seeks to end that. It is nothing more than an effort to cripple NPR by crippling our local public radio stations. The bill would decimate local NPR stations by restricting their ability to choose programming best suited to their community. In my district, NPR stations like KCLU, KCRW, and KCBX provide valuable international and domestic news. They bring ``All Things Considered,'' ``Morning Edition,'' and ``Car Talk'' into our cars and our living rooms. But these stations also cover local news, concerts, local and school events. They produce shows like ``Ears on the Arts,'' ``Community Calendar,'' and ``From Ballet to Broadway.'' The bill throws all that out the window. NPR reports and media coverage are consistently even-handed, driven by a high standard of journalistic ethics. They are not politically biased. NPR lets the stories do the talking, not the commentators. And apparently the public, the tax-paying public, likes that.…”