On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to cut off federal funding to National Public Radio, and Rep. Jim Moran (D) was not happy about it.
In a floor speech that his office put on YouTube yesterday, the Northern Virginia congressman argued that the Republican-sponsored legislation was about ideology, not sound fiscal policy.
“This has nothing to do with the deficit, it’s an infinitesimal fraction of our national debt,” Moran said forcefully. “It distracts us from solving the real problems that this nation faces while trying to destroy one of the primary sources of an enlightened electorate.”
Moran said NPR is an important resource because of its status as a public broadcaster.
“[NPR] content is not compromised by corporate ownership,” he said. Moran also argued that NPR is important because of the emergency alert system it provides.
“The commercial market won’t do that, because there’s no profit in it,” he added.
Yesterday former NPR analyst Juan Williams came out in favor of cutting off federal funds to the organization. Still, the defunding bill has little chance of passing the Senate.