To prohibit Federal funding of National Public Radio and the use of Federal funds to acquire radio content.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3410 To prohibit Federal funding of National Public Radio and the use of Federal funds to acquire radio content. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2021 Mr. LAMBORN (for himself, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. DUNCAN, and Mr. GOOD of Virginia) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To prohibit Federal funding of National Public Radio and the use of Federal funds to acquire radio content. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL FUNDING OF NA- 3 TIONAL PUBLIC RADIO AND RADIO CONTENT 4 ACQUISITION. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—No Federal funds may be made 6 available— 7 (1) to an organization that is incorporated as of 8 the date of the enactment of this Act for each of the 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3410.IH H3410 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3410 IH purposes described in subsection (c), or to any suc- 1 cessor organization; 2 (2) for payment of dues to an organization de- 3 scribed in paragraph (1); or 4 (3) for the acquisition of radio programs (in- 5 cluding programs to be distributed or disseminated 6 over the internet) by or for the use of a radio broad- 7 cast station that is a public broadcast station (as de- 8 fined in section 397(6) of the Communications Act 9 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 397(6))). 10 (b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 11 (1) OTHER PURPOSES.—Paragraphs (2) and 12 (3) of subsection (a) shall not be construed to pro- 13 hibit the making available of Federal funds to any 14 entity, including an entity that engages in the pay- 15 ment described in such paragraph (2) or the acquisi- 16 tion described in such paragraph (3), for purposes 17 other than such payment or acquisition. 18 (2) RADIO CONTENT ACQUISITION BY UNITED 19 STATES AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA OR DEFENSE 20 MEDIA ACTIVITY.—Subsection (a)(3) shall not be 21 construed to apply to the acquisition of radio pro- 22 grams by the United States Agency for Global 23 Media or the Defense Media Activity. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3410.IH H3410 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3410 IH (c) PURPOSES DESCRIBED.—The purposes described 1 in this subsection are the following: 2 (1) To propose, plan and develop, to acquire, 3 purchase and lease, to prepare, produce and record, 4 and to distribute, license and otherwise make avail- 5 able radio programs to be broadcast over non- 6 commercial educational radio broadcast stations, 7 networks and systems. 8 (2) To engage in research study activities with 9 respect to noncommercial educational radio pro- 10 gramming and broadcasting. 11 (3) To lease, purchase, acquire and own, to 12 order, have, use and contract for, and to otherwise 13 obtain, arrange for and provide technical equipment 14 and facilities for the production, recording and dis- 15 tribution of radio programs for broadcast over non- 16 commercial educational radio stations, networks and 17 systems. 18 (4) To establish and maintain one or more serv- 19 ice or services for the production, duplication, pro- 20 motion and circulation of radio programs on tape, 21 cassettes, records or any other means or mechanism 22 suitable for noncommercial educational transmission 23 and broadcast thereof. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3410.IH H3410 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3410 IH (5) To cooperate and participate with foreign 1 broadcasting systems and networks in all aspects of 2 international radio programming and broadcasting. 3 (6) To develop, prepare and publish informa- 4 tion, data, reports and other materials in support of 5 or relating to noncommercial educational radio pro- 6 gramming and broadcasting. 7 (7) To otherwise forward and advance the de- 8 velopment, production, distribution and use of non- 9 commercial educational radio programs, materials 10 and services, and to assist and support noncommer- 11 cial educational radio broadcasting pursuant to the 12 Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, as it may from 13 time to time be amended. 14 (d) FEDERAL FUNDS DEFINED.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term 16 ‘‘Federal funds’’ means, with respect to receipt by a 17 non-Federal entity from the Federal Government, 18 the following: 19 (A) Grants. 20 (B) Loans. 21 (C) Property. 22 (D) Cooperative agreements. 23 (E) Direct appropriations. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3410.IH H3410 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3410 IH (2) GRANTS OR SUBGRANTS FROM NON-FED- 1 ERAL ENTITY.—Such term also includes grants or 2 subgrants from Federal funds made available to a 3 non-Federal entity. 4 (e) CHANGES TO FUNDING FORMULA.—Section 5 396(k)(3)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 6 U.S.C. 396(k)(3)(A)) is amended— 7 (1) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘fiscal year’’ and 8 all that follows and inserting ‘‘fiscal year, such 9 amounts shall be available for distribution among 10 the licensees and permittees of public radio stations 11 pursuant to paragraph (6)(B).’’; and 12 (2) in clause (v)(II), by striking ‘‘clause (iii)(II) 13 and (III)’’ and inserting ‘‘clause (iii)’’. 14 (f) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 396 of the 15 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 396) is amend- 16 ed— 17 (1) in subsection (g)(2)— 18 (A) in the matter before clause (i) of sub- 19 paragraph (B), by inserting ‘‘(except for the ac- 20 quisition of radio programs)’’ after ‘‘public tele- 21 communications services’’; and 22 (B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 23 ‘‘(except for the acquisition of radio programs)’’ 24 after ‘‘public telecommunications services’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3410.IH H3410 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3410 IH (2) in subsection (k)— 1 (A) in the 1st sentence of paragraph 2 (3)(B)(i)— 3 (i) by striking ‘‘and subparagraph 4 (A)(iii)(II)’’; and 5 (ii) by striking ‘‘or radio’’; 6 (B) in the 3rd sentence of paragraph 7 (6)(B), by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)(A)(iii)(I)’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘paragraph (3)(A)(iii)’’; and 9 (C) in paragraph (7)— 10 (i) by striking ‘‘(iii)(I)’’ and inserting 11 ‘‘(iii)’’; and 12 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(except for the ac- 13 quisition of radio programming)’’ before 14 the period at the end; and 15 (3) in subsection (l)(4)— 16 (A) in the matter before clause (i) of sub- 17 paragraph (B), by striking ‘‘(iii)(II)’’ and in- 18 serting ‘‘(iii)’’; 19 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘sub- 20 section (k)(3)(A)(iii)(III)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 21 section (k)(3)(A)(iii)’’; and 22 (C) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘sub- 23 section (k)(3)(A) (ii)(III) or (iii)(II)’’ and in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3410.IH H3410 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3410 IH serting ‘‘subsection (k)(3)(A)(ii)(II) or sub- 1 section (k)(3)(A)(iii)’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3410.IH H3410 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS