President Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle seven more federal agencies, including the one that runs the Voice of America. Trump signed the order on Friday night after the Senate passed a government funding bill, and on Saturday, his administration began carrying it out. The New York Times reports the heads of the agencies were told in the order to not perform any parts of their jobs that are not legally required—"reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law"—effectively shutting operations down. Trump said in a statement that the rules are intended to "end radical ideology," per the Washington Post.
It wasn't immediately clear that the president has such authority. US Agency for Global Media, parent of the Voice of America, is congressionally chartered as an independent agency, and a 2020 law was designed to restrict the power of its chief executive, a presidential appointee. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, whom Trump made a senior adviser to the agency, told employees in a post on X to check their email; notices had been sent putting Voice of America staff on paid administrative leave, per the AP. Notices canceling grants to Radio Free Asia and other programming run by the agency also went out. Radio Free Asia, Europe, and Marti transmit news to nations with authoritarian governments including China, North Korea, and Russia. Voice of America delivers US news to other countries, often in local languages. The parent agency has 2,000 employees and a weekly estimated audience of more than 361 million people, per the Times.
Trump's order also affects:
- The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan think tank.
- The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, charged with preventing homelessness.
- The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which helps struggling communities financially.
- The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which resolves work stoppages and labor disputes.
- The Institute of Museum and Library Services, which supports museums, libraries, and archives.
- The Minority Business Development Agency, which helps minority-owned businesses.
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