posted March 18, 2011 10:56 AM            

The bill - sponsored by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) - has only a slim chance of becoming law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not say Thursday whether the upper chamber would consider the legislation, but indicated he does not support defunding.
"Public radio and the top-notch journalists it employs are valuable resources to people of all ages across the country, and I can't understand why Republicans would want to take that away from them," Reid said in a statement.

The White House said Thursday the administration "strongly opposes" the bill, but stopped short of making a veto threat.

If the legislation were enacted, it would permanently prohibit direct federal funding to NPR, ban public radio stations from using federal funds to pay their NPR dues and prevent those stations from using federal dollars to buy programming.

Nobody is trying to take anything away from anybody - as Harry Reid well knows. NPR and other public radio and TV stations across the country can easily make up the difference in federal funding via a wide variety of funding mechanisms. Those reporters that Harry Reid is so concerned about are a great selling point to corporations and the public for giving generously to NPR and public media. Perhaps its time for Public TV and Radio to go to a subscription service or pay per view for some of their more popular programs.