NEW YORK, May 27 (Xinhua) - The National Public Radio (NPR) and three Colorado public radio stations filed suit in federal court on Tuesday against the Federal Government over an executive order barring use of Congressionally appropriated funds for NPR and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
The lawsuit says the administration is usurping Congress' power to direct how federal money will be spent and to pass laws, the NPR lawsuit said in a press release posted on its website on Tuesday.
The lawsuit names U.S. President Trump, White House budget director Russell Vought, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts Maria Rosario Jackson as defendants.
A team filed the lawsuit for NPR and the Colorado stations jointly in the District of Columbia. PBS, not a party to the lawsuit, instead issued a statement Tuesday saying "PBS is considering every option, including taking legal action, to allow our organization to continue to provide essential programming and services to member stations and all Americans."
NPR and PBS receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 2 directing CPB to end Federal funding for NPR and PBS, saying they have "zero tolerance" for non-leftist viewpoints, and do not present "a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens".
"This is retaliatory, viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment," NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement. "NPR will never agree to this infringement of our constitutional rights, or the constitutional rights of our Member stations, and NPR will not compromise our commitment to an independent free press and journalistic integrity."
The CPB was authorized by Congressional statute but set up as a private corporation. To free public broadcasters from political pressure, U.S. Congress allocates money for CPB two years in advance.
When the Federal Government ordered CPB not to fund NPR and PBS, the corporation's chief executive Patricia Harrison said in a statement: "CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President's authority."
The statute the Congress passed to create CPB expressly forbids "any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over (CPB) or any of its grantees or contractors," Harrison said in the statement. ■