Richard B. Nugent: “I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I just want to bring to your attention that the public watching this…”

“I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I just want to bring to your attention that the public watching this today on C-SPAN does not receive a single Federal dollar in regards to the operation of C-SPAN. We're not closing down local radio stations. We're actually giving them the ability to liberate themselves from Federal dollars. My good friends on the other side of the aisle continue to refuse to prioritize about what's important for America. They continue on a path of just spend, because all programs are inherently good. While you've heard a lot of us like NPR in regard to certain programming, there's others that we do not. Mr. Speaker, I was reminded the other day of a quote by Thomas Jefferson: ``To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.'' With that in mind, I can't in good conscience support continuing to fund NPR with tax dollars. {time} 1020 A large number of Americans fundamentally disagree with the content and mission of NPR. Moreover, this is a program that can be privately funded. NPR's own officials said they don't need Federal dollars to continue. We are not trying to harm NPR. We are actually trying to liberate them from Federal tax dollars. We need to get back to the core mission of the Federal Government.…”