Lamborn: Public radio non-essential, wants audit

Rep. Doug Lamborn this week asked the Government Accountability Office to inspect the financial records of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio. Both CPB and NPR receive millions of dollars a year in federal funding, and Lamborn has repeatedly attempted to strip that funding to help balance the federal budget.

Lamborn requested the audit in a letter to the head of the GAO, and wrote that the government does not have “the luxury of funding non-essential services.”

CPB requested $165 million in federal dollars for fiscal 2013, and NPR received $65 million in government grants in 2010, Lamborn’s office said.

Both organizations have said federal money represents just a fraction of their budget — most of their operating costs are covered with private donations.

A pair of bills by Lamborn to kill CPB and NPR funding were both defeated in November by House Democrats, but a Lamborn spokeswoman said Wednesday that the congressman may reintroduce one of the bills in January.