Bill to defund public broadcasting passes U.S. House of Representatives, support low in Senate
Local National Public Radio aficionados could miss music to their ears if new national legislation passes the Senate.
House Resolution 1076, a bill which would cut federal funding of public broadcasting, was approved by the U.S. House of Representative March 17.
Central Michigan University’s public radio station, 89.5 WCMU, would not be affected by the cuts right away, said Ed Grant, CMU Public Broadcasting general manager. But the station might have problems down the road.
The station purchases $200,000 to $250,000 of NPR programing a year, or about 50 hours a week of programming, he said.
“Our programming is acquired from a number of different sources,” Grant said. “We earmark certain expenditures that we make using federal funds, (we could fund the programming with donations) but that would require some changes.”
The station receives funding from donors, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and CMU, Grant said. About 22 percent of its funding comes from the federal government.
Other stations may not be lucky enough to re-distribute funds, said Stacey Karp, director of communications for the Association of Public Television Stations, the group leading the lobbying effort to block H.R. 1076. About 10 percent of the average public broadcasting station is funded by the federal government.
“There are 170 million Americans who rely on public broadcasting each month,” she said. “In the rural communities, in the smaller communities ... they depend on the federal government to be able to provide that news and educational and cultural programming.”
The bill does prevent federal funding from going to public broadcasting, not just NPR. This includes programs like “Morning Edition” and “Our Front Porch,” Karp said.
According to a Hart Research/American Viewpoint Survey voters consider public broadcasting to be the second best thing the federal government could spend tax dollars on, behind defense spending.
“Sixty-nine percent of people across the political spectrum oppose cutting government funds for public broadcasting,” Karp said.
Representative Dave Camp, R-Midland, voted for H.R. 1076, along with 227 other representatives.
“House Resolution 1076 is a measure designed to redirect federal funds ... currently being made available to National Public Radio (NPR),” he said in a written statement. “Compared to public health and safety, NPR is a non-essential program.”
Even though the bill passed the House, Karp doubts it will see the Senate floor.
There is just not enough support for it in the Democrat-controlled Senate, she said. But a grassroots campaign to support the stations, 170 million Americans for Public Broadcasting, is still going strong.
“As of (Tuesday) morning we have over 346,000 people who have signed up to support the campaign,” Karp said. “We've been really heartened to see that our supporters not only support us but are willing to take action on our behalf.”
