House votes to halt federal funding of NPR

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to halt federal funding of National Public Radio by a largely partisan vote of 228-192. Minnesota’s delegation split along party lines with Democrats voting against the defunding measure.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), does not cut money from the federal government’s budget, but rather “prohibits local affiliates from using public money for anything other than administrative costs,” as described by The Wall Street Journal.

Through a statement (PDF) from the Office of Management and Budget, the Obama administration strongly opposed the measure to defund:

“The vast majority of [the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s] funding for public radio goes to more than 700 stations across the country, many of them local stations serving communities that rely on them for access to news and public safety information,” the statement reads. “Undercutting funding for these radio stations, notably ones in rural areas where such outlets are already scarce, would result in communities losing valuable programming, and some stations could be forced to shut down altogether. “

NPR received $430 million in federal funding this year. NPR stations receive 10 percent of funding from tax dollars, the rest coming from donations.

The measure, which Minnesota Republican Rep. John Kline cosponsored, is expected to fail in the U.S. Senate.