National Public Radio has hired lobbying firm Navigators Global.
The news comes as some Republican lawmakers want to defund public broadcasting.
NPR Spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm told The Hill that no federal funds are being used to pay for the lobbying firm which the broadcaster hired because part of its mission is to represent the interests of its member stations to Congress, executive, regulatory and judicial bodies.
House Republicans are pushing an appropriations bill through committee that would defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to “encourage” NPR and PBS to fund themselves without federal dollars, according to the account.
The measure would be part of the fiscal 2013 negotiations with the Senate this fall, even if the bill never reaches the House floor, reports the paper.
Other clients of Navigators Global include General Motors, Culligan, Home Depot and the Art Dealers Association of America according to the lobbying firm’s website
