Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports a funding shortage attributed to an executive order by Donald Trump.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a US government-funded broadcaster, began placing employees on unpaid leave at its Prague headquarters on Tuesday due to a lack of approved congressional funding for April.
Established during the Cold War, RFE/RL’s original purpose was to disseminate pro-Western viewpoints within the Soviet bloc. Initially financed by the CIA, the network now receives funding through US Congressional grants.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14, significantly curtailing the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the organization responsible for overseeing RFE/RL and Voice of America. On March 25, a judge in Washington D.C. temporarily prevented USAGM from cutting RFE/RL’s funding.
The news organization stated on Tuesday that it has not received any new government funds, despite the judge’s ruling.
“Although USAGM rescinded its letter terminating RFE/RL’s grant agreement on March 26, RFE/RL has not received any of its congressionally appropriated funds since that date – and USAGM has not approved RFE/RL’s financial plan for April,” the news outlet stated on its website.
RFE/RL has requested the judge to issue a temporary restraining order to guarantee its April funding, as well as an injunction to secure funding “for the remainder of the current fiscal year.”
“Our staff and their families are now paying the price as RFE/RL continues to wait for USAGM to provide our congressionally appropriated funds,” RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement.
The White House has asserted that defunding RFE/RL is part of Trump’s initiative to reduce government spending and eliminate “unnecessary” bureaucracy.
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and Trump advisor who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has advocated for RFE/RL to be “shut down,” stating on X in February that “Nobody listens to them anymore.”
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