Lawmaker Sponsors Bill To Defund NPR, CPB

As he has done in years past, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn last week introduced legislation that would strip federal funding from National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — two entities he described as “superfluous government programs.”

According to The Denver Post, this isn’t the first time the Republican from Colorado Springs has targeted funding that aids in airing “Sesame Street” and “All Things Considered,” but Lamborn may have better luck now that the GOP and President Donald Trump control the White House and Congress.

“Republicans and the new Administration need to demonstrate that we take our fiscal responsibility seriously,” said Lamborn in a statement. “American taxpayers do not want their hard-earned dollars funding superfluous government programs just because that is the way things have always been done.”

He added that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting received about $445 million in federal dollars in 2016 and that the money “could be put to better use rebuilding our military and enhancing our national security.”

In the past, Lamborn has written that he is a “fan of some NPR programs” and he reiterated that same point in an interview. “I am totally convinced in a free market where you did not inject taxpayer subsidies, the programming would stand on its own two feet,” he said.

When asked why he picked these particular slices of the federal budget to cut, Lamborn said “we have to pick and choose our battles.”