Rep. Good Calls for Defunding Biased NPR

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Bob Good (VA-05) introduced the Defund NPR Act to ensure that no taxpayer dollars fund the biased radical left messaging at National Public Radio (NPR). This legislation prohibits federal funding of NPR and prevents local public radio stations from using federal grant money to purchase content or pay dues to NPR.

“It is bad enough that so many media outlets push their slanted views instead of reporting the news, but it is even more egregious for hardworking taxpayers to be forced to pay for it. National Public Radio has a track record of promoting anti-American narratives on the taxpayer dime,” said Good. “My legislation would ensure no taxpayer dollars are used to fund the woke, leftist propaganda of National Public Radio.”

NPR was originally created to be an educational news source and to “speak with many voices, many dialects.” In the 55 years since NPR was founded, they have become a primary outlet for advancing biased and radical media coverage of political and social issues. On April 10, 2024, former Editor of NPR, Uri Berliner, issued a scathing review of the news outlet claiming it has “lost America’s trust.” Mr. Berliner resigned from NPR shortly after due to a lack of viewpoint diversity and a hard embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) principles.

Background:

• In 2021, the staff of NPR had a significant disparity in party affiliation: 87 Democrats and 0 Republicans.
• On July 4, 2022, NPR broke a 33-year tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence and instead focused on Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, and his relationship with his slave Sally Hemmings.
• NPR receives taxpayer dollars directly and indirectly, which means that taxpayer dollars are funding a radical, DEI-focused media outlet.
• Under current law, NPR is able to receive even more taxpayer dollars than are specifically authorized for the outlet, because any public radio station that receives federal grants must use 26 percent of the funds for production or the acquisition of programming, including programming for national distribution.
• These stations commonly use funds to buy programming from NPR – further funding NPR’s operation and expanding the reach of NPR’s woke ideology.

Co-sponsors (8): Rep. Perry (R-PA), Rep. Duncan (R-SC), Rep. Bishop (R-NC), Rep. Miller (R-IL), Rep. Clyde (R-GA), Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), Rep. Jackson (R-TX), Rep. Harris (R-MD)

Supporting Groups: Family Research Council

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