On the recordMarch 17, 2011
I thank the gentlelady from California. I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1076 to defund National Public Radio. Overwhelmingly, my Rhode Island constituents agree, this legislation is no more than an ideological attack on public broadcasting masquerading as a fiscal issue. That is because Federal funding accounts for less than three-thousandths of one percent of the annual Federal budget. In addition to that, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says this legislation will not reduce the deficit by a single penny. Without as much as a hearing, this legislation undermines public broadcasting, a system that 34 million Americans turn to weekly and in which Americans across the political spectrum place high trust. These funding restrictions will devastate the economy of public radio. It will harm local stations. It will inhibit their ability to attract audiences, develop stable local revenue bases, and, most importantly, their ability to continue to produce local programming. Public broadcasting gives voice to the smallest and most diverse communities in our country. I know firsthand the high quality broadcasting the NPR provides in Rhode Island and all across this country. It would also endanger 9,000 jobs at local public radio stations and communities across the country. I urge my colleagues to vote against this assault on the free exchange of ideas and instead support a democracy that continues to listen carefully to its people.
