Trump orders gutting of 7 federal agencies, including Voice of America’s parent
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US President Donald Trump directed the heads of the agencies to eliminate all functions that are not statutorily mandated.
PHOTO: DOUG MILLS/NYTIMES
Tyler Pager
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WEST PALM BEACH – US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 seeking to dismantle seven additional federal agencies, including the one that oversees Voice of America and other government-funded media outlets around the world.
Mr Trump directed the heads of the agencies, largely obscure entities that address issues like labour mediation and homelessness prevention, to eliminate all functions that are not statutorily mandated.
The leaders should also “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law”, the order said.
Like many of the President’s moves in his wide-ranging effort to shrink the government, the order appears to test the bounds of his authority.
Voice of America’s parent, the US Agency for Global Media, for example, is congressionally chartered as an independent agency, and Congress passed a law in 2020 intended to limit the power of the agency’s presidentially appointed chief executive.
In addition to Voice of America, the Agency for Global Media funds Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. The organisation, with a budget of roughly US$270 million (S$360 million) and more than 2,000 employees, broadcasts in 49 languages. It has a weekly estimated audience of more than 361 million people.
The media outlets are intended to provide unbiased news to audiences around the world, but Mr Trump has criticised its editorial decisions since his first term. Mr Trump had already stirred fears at the agency by tapping Ms Kari Lake, a fierce loyalist who ran unsuccessfully for governor and Senate in Arizona, to serve as a special adviser there.
The other agencies Mr Trump targeted on March 14 are the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which works to prevent and resolve work stoppages and labour disputes; the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, a non-partisan think-tank; the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which funds and supports museums, libraries and archives; the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, which works to prevent and end homelessness; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which provides financial assistance to struggling communities; and the Minority Business Development Agency, which aims to bolster minority-owned businesses.
Within seven days, the heads of the entities are required to submit to Mr Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, their plans for complying with the order and outline which of their functions are statutorily required.
Since Mr Trump took office, billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have sought to drastically reshape the federal government by cutting staff and programs.
On March 11, the Education Department announced it was firing more than 1,300 workers, and after hundreds accepted separation packages, the agency is set to be left with roughly half the number of employees that it started the year with.
Mr Musk’s group has trumpeted saving taxpayers billions of dollars, though its claims have been undermined by posting error-filled data.
Some of its efforts have also been halted by federal judges, including on March 13, when a pair of court rulings called for agencies to reinstate thousands of federal employees
