At Wednesday's House DOGE Committee hearing, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) grilled the CEOs of NPR and PBS about funding.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Burleson, for five minutes.
00:03Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:05You know, I think that it's important to bring this conversation into the context that needs
00:10to be said, which is that we are $36 trillion in debt.
00:15As a nation, we're spending 20% of every dollar that comes in from taxpayers just to cover
00:20the interest.
00:21And guess what?
00:22American people, bad news, interest rates are going up.
00:26So that 20% is going to get worse and worse.
00:29We had Ray Dalio come in and tell Congress that we are entering potentially dark territory.
00:36There's a number of red flags.
00:39We're at the worst level of debt.
00:41We're at a worse level of debt than we were after we left the World War II, okay?
00:46We're at that level of debt, and we didn't just fight a war.
00:50We're facing potential wars and conflicts.
00:53We're at that level of debt, and we didn't just emerge from a recession or a depression.
00:58If that happens today, you'll see the dollar no longer be the world reserve currency,
01:05and we will be in serious trouble.
01:06And so that is the context that we're in.
01:09Look, if there was all the money in the world, it's fine to throw money around, but we don't
01:14have all the money in the world.
01:15And the question that we have at hand today is, is it appropriate to spend taxpayer dollars
01:21on things that may not be necessary anymore?
01:24And so my question, Mr. Gonzalez, at one point in time, there was state-sponsored speech
01:29directly.
01:30It was the form of town criers, correct?
01:34So government used to fund people to go out in the street and deliver the news of the
01:38day vocally at street corners, correct?
01:42Okay, why don't we do that today?
01:45Well, I think it's because we'd have better ways of delivering the news.
01:49I mean, I think you get my point.
01:51But today, at one point in time, there was very limited access to news, and there was
01:57an appropriate time where potentially we needed to have state-sponsored news.
02:02But is that the way, do we need that today?
02:05No, we do not.
02:07And may I quote Thomas Jefferson on this very point, since you bring this up?
02:13He said, to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which
02:18he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
02:22This is what I base my opposition to public funding for media.
02:26Yeah.
02:27And that's why I think that given this context, let's be real.
02:31It was said that we're attacking free speech.
02:34This is paid, this is state-sponsored speech.
02:37And the very reason why we have these witnesses before us today isn't because they're totally
02:43being funded or completely being funded.
02:45We're not bringing in Disney Channel in here, right?
02:48We're not bringing in National Geographic, right, for their content.
02:54The reason why we're having this conversation is because we are funding you, and because
03:01we're funding you, the taxpayers get to have an opportunity to ask, why are we funding
03:06some of this content that they might disagree with?
03:09Right?
03:10Yeah.
03:11No, completely.
03:12That's completely right.
03:13In fact, I think that PBS and NPR, but especially PBS, will thrive on the membership model.
03:19They keep saying it's such a small percentage.
03:20Well, if it's the public funding, if it's such a small percentage, then no problem.
03:25Yeah.
03:26So, Ms. Maher, I'm going to ask a very difficult question.
03:29But if you're in my shoes and you have to face the fact, can we fund Social Security
03:33or do we spend money on NPR?
03:36Which would you choose?
03:38Congressman, I would argue that in one of the-
03:42If you had to pick, if you were forced to make a decision, there wasn't enough money
03:46to go around, Social Security or NPR.
03:49We know how important public media is to our nation's seniors, sir.
03:52More important than Social Security.
03:54I think the American people disagree.
03:55I think that-
03:56Ms. Kerger, let me ask this.
03:59Would it be more appropriate to fund PBS or to fund Veterans Health Care?
04:06If given limited resources, which is where we're at.
04:09I recognize the limited resources and I feel that both are important for this country.
04:14I think what the American people want to know is when they're sending money, their taxpayer
04:19dollars and they're funding things like independent lens.
04:23And look, I like some of the content on your stations.
04:26I love NOVA.
04:27But you know what?
04:28NOVA competes with National Geographic and Nature.
04:31Why are we funding something that competes with these private sector interests?
04:35I like Sesame Street, but I also know that it's competing directly with Handy Manny,
04:40Doc McStuffins and Little Einsteins, right?
04:43Those exist and we're not funding them.
04:45They're not here having to defend their content.
04:48But because we are funding it, I'm going to ask you, why are we funding episodes of Real
04:54Lens, Independent Lens, about an episode called Real Boy, a Trans Teen Navigates Adolescent
05:01Sobriety and Physical Emotional Ramifications?
05:06That's what the American people want to know.
05:08Social Security.
05:09We're out of time, but our witnesses can answer the questions.
05:13Thank you, Madam Chair.
05:14That was a documentary that was produced for adults as part of our primetime audience and
05:22it was part of a point of view that we share to try to help people understand the wide
05:28breadth of experiences of people across the country.
05:32Thank you, Madam Chair.