Amash: NPR Defunding ‘Does Not Actually Save Taxpayer Dollars’

ThinkProgress » GOP Congressman: NPR Defunding ‘Does Not Actually Save Taxpayer Dollars’ - Alex Seitz-Wald:

March 18, 2011 - "Yesterday, the House narrowly voted to defund NPR by prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used by local radio stations to purchase NPR content.... Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who voted “present” ... explained his opposition in a statement to Fox News by noting that the bill voted on yesterday would not save a dime of taxpayer money:...

"'The funds CPB does not send to NPR under the bill are returned to CPB to be spent subsidizing other private radio producers. I offered an amendment in the Rules Committee to require that any funds not sent to NPR be redirected to pay down the deficit, but the amendment was ruled out of order. Therefore, public broadcasting will not see any reduction in federal funding even if this bill becomes law.'

"Republicans have claimed stripping taxpayer dollars from NPR is about the need to cut spending and rein in the deficit.... But as Amash and many Democrats have correctly pointed out, the bill doesn’t actually save taxpayer money — it merely moves around money already allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, away from NPR and to other public broadcasting operations."

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/18/gop-rep-npr-defunding-does-not-save-money/