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House Votes To Defund NPR

Former NPR CEO Vivan Schiller

Former NPR CEO Vivan Schiller

Washington, DC
Thursday, March 17, 2011

The House of Representatives voted 228 - 192 to strip federal funding from National Public Radio (NPR). The bill, introduced by Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO), passed mostly along party lines with seven Republicans voting against it and one voting present.

The measure is not implemented until the Senate passes it and the president signs it.

Conservatives charge NPR as having a liberal bias. The latest uproar came when a secret edited video surfaced of NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller criticizing the Tea Party during a lunch with actors pretending to be Muslim donors.

Schiller immediately resigned and NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (unrelated to Ron Schiller) also resigned her post.

The public radio network became a focus of conservatives after commentator Juan Williams was fired for remarks about Muslims made on Fox News in the fall of 2010.

Last month, as part of its FY 2011 budget, the House passed a measure that strips money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the government entity that allocates money to NPR and other public media.

Updated: Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 4:07pm (ET)

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Washington Journal (late 2012)