In a largely symbolic vote, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday, March 17 to completely defund National Public Radio. The Senate and President Obama both are not expected to favor that plan, so the vote was mostly for show. Local Congressman Chris Gibson (NY-20, R-Kinderhook), voted with many Democrats to keep the funding. “Today I voted against eliminating funding for NPR because I know that our local affiliates - like WAMC and North Country Public Radio - provide a valuable service to my constituents, particularly in our rural communities. This was a vote I weighed carefully as I strongly believe that federal spending needs to be returned to the pre-TARP, pre-stimulus levels of FY 2008, and had this vote been to reduce federal funding to that level instead of eliminating it outright, I would have voted ‘yes.’" National Public Radio spends some of its money each year lobbying against public access to the airwaves -- last year they lobbied heavily to defeat the Local Community Radio Act of 2010 that was passed, and will allow several thousand more low-power community radio stations that will compete with NPR for listeners.