Obama administration opposes NPR cuts

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- The White House opposes U.S. House Republicans' efforts to bar federal funding of National Public Radio and public radio stations, a policy statement said.

The policy statement, issued Thursday, said President Barack Obama proposed targeted reductions in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides a small amount of money for NPR, and has expressed a willingness to implement other reasonable spending reductions.

"However, CPB serves an important public purpose in supporting public radio, television, and related online and mobile services," the statement said. "The vast majority of CPB's funding for public radio goes to more than 700 stations across the country, many of them local stations serving communities that rely on them for access to news and public safety information."

Stripping funding for those stations, particularly ones in rural areas, "would result in communities losing valuable programming, and some stations could be forced to shut down altogether."

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., introduced the legislation that would prohibit NPR and its local affiliates from using federal dollars to produce programming or buy content from other member stations. Under provisions of his bill, affiliate stations could use taxpayer money for administrative costs only.