Trump administration announced grant termination for RFA

20/3/2025 6:04

The U.S.

government-funded Radio Free Asia told hundreds of U.S.-based

staff on Wednesday they will be put on unpaid leave from the end

of this week after President Donald Trump's administration said

it was terminating the outlet's grant funding.



RFA spokesperson Rohit Mahajan told Reuters the

administration's move was "unlawful" and said the outlet was

pursuing legal action. The news service is wholly dependent on

government grants for its operations.



The Trump administration announced on Saturday it was

terminating the federal grants that sustain the operations of

RFA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and that more than

1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on leave in a

likely fatal blow to the government-funded outlets.



RFA has broadcast across Asia since 1996. Rights activists

say its multilingual reporters serve as a rare source of

reliable news in authoritarian countries, raising awareness

about the plight of oppressed minorities such as China's Uyghur

Muslims.



Mahajan said the furlough from Friday would mainly affect

U.S.-based full-time staff, and reduce the number of people

working at the outlet from more than 300 to about 75.



"We have very little funding left to pay our staff. We are

trying to keep RFA afloat, as we pursue a legal challenge to the

termination of our grant, which we believe is unlawful," he

said.



Mahajan said RFA would prioritize exempting from the

furlough staff with visas dependent on their employment status,

especially those who could face persecution in their home

countries. Furloughed staff would receive health care coverage

at least through April, he said.



Staff were told the news by RFA management in a town hall

meeting on Wednesday.



Participants were told RFA planned to mount a legal

challenge similar to that filed by RFA's sister outlet Radio

Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Tuesday, according to two RFA

journalists who joined the town hall.



A notice of the furlough announcement sent to RFA staff,

seen by Reuters, said it was assumed employees would return to

work at the end of the furlough period.



The notice added: "because the situation is fluid, we

cannot predict how long the furlough may last."



U.S. lawmakers and rights advocates say the funding cuts are

a major blow to Washington's hard-earned soft power globally at

a time when China is rushing to expand its sphere of influence.



The cuts are part of an unprecedented push by Trump and

billionaire Elon Musk to shrink the federal government, which

they say wastes U.S. taxpayer money on causes that do not line

up with U.S. interests.



In a letter on Wednesday to Kari Lake, acting head of U.S.

Agency for Global Media, who announced the funding termination,

RFA's CEO Bay Fang said the move had "no basis in law or fact

and violates the U.S. Constitution, a litany of federal statutes

and regulations, and the plain terms of RFA’s grant agreement."



A copy of the letter was provided to Reuters by RFA. The

White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment

on the letter.



In a post on his X platform last month, Musk called for

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America to be shut

down, calling it "just radical left crazy people talking to

themselves."



Trump is seeking to improve U.S. relations with Russia and

engage diplomatically with China, where Musk has significant

business interests. China's Global Times tabloid celebrated

Voice of America's shutdown in an editorial this week.



Asked on Monday if U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

supported the move to dismantle RFA, State Department

spokesperson Tammy Bruce did not say where the top U.S. diplomat

stood on the issue but said the use of taxpayer money was

"serious business."



"Right now, it's new, it's a fluid situation, and we'll have

more for you as it unfolds," Bruce said.