On the recordMarch 17, 2011
I appreciate the gentleman for yielding. I rise in support of this rule. I think the American people deserve an opportunity to have their Representatives vote on the funding of NPR. Now, let's also make sure we keep this in context because really what this is ultimately going to do is talk about the funding of less than 5 percent of NPR. It's not as if this is going to go off the radio right away. I'm not here to debate the content or make some editorial comment about their editorial comment, but we have to deal with the fiscal reality of this country. Every time we turn around, nobody wants to cut anything. We're going to have to figure out in this country how to do more with less. The reality is we're $14 trillion in debt. We pay more than $600 million a day on interest on that debt. We can't be all things to all people. We have to understand the proper role of government. Every time we make a decision about spending, what we're talking about is, should we go into somebody's pocket, pull money out, and give it to somebody else? And in the case of our Federal Government now, we're also doing that, but we're also borrowing the money. We're borrowing the money. And so in the case of NPR, which has been wildly successful, as the gentlewoman properly accounted for, Mr.…
