Since taking office, the current White House administration has been slashing the government and funding with reckless abandonment. One of those items eliminated was the radio network Voice of America which provides independent news to nearly 50 countries around the world.
A federal court ordered the White House to restore VOA; which has not yet been done.
On July 30, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth of the District of Columbia wanted some answers as to why the order has not been followed. He has issued an August 13 deadline to the White House to provide an explanation of how they will restore VOA which has been dark since March. He wants to know what is being done with the $260 million that Congress had already appropriated for the operation of VOA in 2025.
Judge Lamberth noted that there is a due process for eliminating previously appropriated funding which has to be done via Congress; as was recently done regarding PBS and NPR, which has not taken place for VOA.
Citing “cagey answers and omitting key information”, Judge Lamberth said, “without more explanation, the court is left to conclude that the defendants are simply trying to run out the clock on the fiscal year, without putting the money Congress appropriated toward the purposes Congress intended. The legal term for that is ‘waste.’”
Government New Agencies advisor Kari Lake noted that 85% of VOA and Global Media employees have lost their jobs saying, “it is a long overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy.”
Not surprisingly, there has been no response from the White House.
Voice of America was established during World War II in 1942 to counter the propaganda being broadcast by Axis (Germany, Japan, etc.). And during the Cold War, it offered a response against Communism.
VOA is an independent agency that receives funding from the American government.