[THECENTERSQUARE] The House Subcommittee for the Department of Government Efficiency is calling the leadership of National Public Radio, a news operations that receives taxpayer funding, to testify before Congress, it said Wednesday.
Go ahead, refuse to testify
The House subcommittee was created to operate similarly to DOGE, the Trump Administration's federal effort to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the government. NPR is under scrutiny for its left-leaning political coverage while receiving taxpayer funding.
The hearing is expected March 26, and the leadership of the Public Broadcasting System has also been asked to testify.
''I want to hear why NPR and PBS think they should ever again receive a single cent from the American taxpayer,'' U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who leads the DOGE Subcommittee, said.
Defenders of the groups point out that most of their funding is not from the government and that they offer a public service. PBS said it receives about $500 million a year from Congress.
Katherine Maher, CEO and president of NPR, and Paula Kerger, CEO of PBS, were personally asked to testify at the hearing, which has been called ''Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.''
The hearing comes as Trump seeks to make cuts to government agencies and contracts across the federal government, leaving no institution safe from possible defunding. |