Ernst, Cruz Scrutinize NPR Funding
Oversight comes as Congress is set to take up rescissions package to defund NPR.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are demanding transparency from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over a $1.9 million grant it provided National Public Radio (NPR) last year.
As Congress evaluates whether to continue trusting CPB with taxpayers’ hard-earned money, the pair highlighted the need for the first rescissions package as they blasted the nonprofit for refusing to comply with congressional oversight requests to ensure editorial accuracy, objectivity, and balance, especially after NPR has repeatedly shown blatant bias in reporting.
“Withholding basic information from Congress about the grants to NPR is unacceptable. It raises serious doubts about CPB’s commitment to transparency and accountability. Ultimately, this sort of obstruction when faced with a routine congressional oversight request raises significant concerns about whether Congress can trust CPB to receive taxpayer funds at all, never mind the robust $595 million CPB is requesting for Fiscal Year 2027,” wrote the senators.
In the letter, the senators also point out that Uri Berliner, former senior business editor at NPR, publicly resigned last year in protest of NPR’s considerable political editorial bias.
Click here to view the letter.
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