McConnell: Let's Defund NPR

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell supports moves to defund National Public Radio. He has voted to defund it in the past and will do so again --now, perhaps with more company.

Many conservatives have longquestioned why the government sponsors a radio network, given the multiplicity of privately-owned programs from which listeners can choose. NPR geve the movement to defund it a big boost last week when it fired Juan Williams for stating that his subjective opinion that he is afraid of Muslims on air planes since 9/11.

Ed Morrisey writes:

McConnell frames this the proper way. The real issue with funding the CPB and NPR with tax dollars has nothing to do with Juan Williams. It has everything to do with the fact that we don’t have the money to waste on non-essentials, and that government has no business subsidizing broadcasters in a robust market with hundreds of choices for consumers. . . .

the question of CPB/NPR funding is a canary in the coal mine for whether Republicans have the nerve to defund ObamaCare, but it’s more than that. The GOP will have to find a way to cut spending by nearly 40% to return to FY2007 levels (which were too high) even apart from ObamaCare. If they can’t pull the trigger on CPB and NPR, don’t expect them to deliver on much else.