WASHINGTON — As he has done in years past, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn this week introduced legislation that would strip federal funding from National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — two entities he described as “superfluous government programs.”

This isn’t the first time the Republican from Colorado Springs has targeted funding that aids in airing “Sesame Street” and “All Things Considered,” but Lamborn may have better luck now that the GOP and President Donald Trump control the White House and Congress.

“Republicans and the new Administration need to demonstrate that we take our fiscal responsibility seriously,” said Lamborn in a statement. “American taxpayers do not want their hard-earned dollars funding superfluous government programs just because that is the way things have always been done.”

He added that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting received about $445 million in federal dollars in 2016 and that the money “could be put to better use rebuilding our military and enhancing our national security.”

In the past, Lamborn has written that he is a “fan of some NPR programs” and he reiterated that same point in an interview. “I am totally convinced in a free market where you did not inject taxpayer subsidies, the programming would stand on its own two feet,” he said.

When asked why he picked these particular slices of the federal budget to cut, Lamborn said “we have to pick and choose our battles.” He could not recall introducing similar legislation that directly targeted other government programs in the same way that he’s focused on NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“It’s just one of the ways we can deal with the spending problem in Washington,” Lamborn said.

In a statement, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting described the federal dollars as critical, especially in smaller media markets.

“The federal investment in public media is vital seed money — especially for stations located in rural America, and those serving underserved populations where the appropriation counts for 40 to 50 percent of their budget. The loss of this seed money would have a devastating effect. These stations would have to raise approximately 200 percent more in private donations to replace the federal investment,” noted the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press, a media advocacy organization that has opposed previous attempts to cut this funding, warned that the tenor of public media could change if they are forced to rely more on corporate dollars. “That takes the public out of public broadcasting,” Wood said. “I think it would almost undeniably force them more toward a commercial and corporate approach.”

A Jan. 19 Washington Post report on possible Trump administration funding cuts to cultural programs showed federal government spending on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was .01 percent of federal spending in 2016. The federal government paid the corporation $445 million in 2016. The Congressional Budget Office figures the government spent about $3.9 trillion during the fiscal year.

NPR in a statement added that federal funding was essential to its work: “Millions of Americans depend on their local public radio station for the fact-based, unbiased, public service journalism they need to stay informed about the world and about the news in their own communities. Federal funding is essential to making that happen.”