Congress to continue funding Voice of America, despite Trump's wishes

Former news anchor-turned-politician Kari Lake. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)

Key Points

A bipartisan spending bill proposes more than $650 million in funding for the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
The measure would restore funding cut by President Trump’s austerity order but at levels below recent appropriations.
The proposal faces legislative hurdles and a potential presidential veto as legal challenges against USAGM continue.

Federal lawmakers have proposed a bipartisan spending bill that would allocate more than $650 million to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the external broadcaster that operates the Voice of America and oversees Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and other media outlets.

The spending bill, released on Sunday, includes $643 million for USAGM and $10 million for financial improvement projects at the agency.

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order last year that instructed the USAGM and six unrelated agencies to reduce their operations and eliminate unnecessary staff as part of a broader austerity measure.

The spending bill proposed over the weekend largely rejects Trump’s wishes to deprive USAGM of funding to the point where the agency collapses in on itself. But the amount offered to USAGM — $653 million in total — is around 25 percent less than the $867 million Congress appropriated to USAGM since 2023.

The proposed spending bill must work their way through Congressional committees before being brought to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Trump must sign the measure, and would likely issue a veto if it includes money earmarked for USAGM.

The Washington Post was the first to report on the proposed funding for USAGM.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Trump’s senior advisor to USAGM Kari Lake said she was “disappointed that Congress is proposing half a billion dollars more in funding than we requested.”

“While reductions from prior years are a step in the right direction, USAGM can still advance President Trump’s message and share America’s story globally without wasting so much taxpayer money,” Lake wrote. (Lake describes herself as the acting CEO of USAGM, though she was never confirmed to the role and it isn’t clear if she is legally allowed to execute any CEO-related authorities.)

Since the Executive Order signed by Trump in March, Lake and others at USAGM have found themselves in court numerous times after fired employees and contractors sued for wrongful termination. The agency is also facing lawsuits over the deprivation of funding allocated to Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and other broadcasters that are not technically operated by USAGM, but regulated by the agency as a condition of receiving federal grants.

Preliminary decisions issued by judges in those lawsuits have favored the plaintiffs bringing those actions, with one judge ordering the USAGM to pause firings and another saying the deprivation of money from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty was illegal because those funds were approved by Congress.

Still, Lake has found ways to cripple the USAGM and Voice of America in different ways. Last summer, Lake signed an agreement with Herring Networks to create an editorial distribution pact involving right-of-center news outlet One America News. In December, USAGM moved forward with the closure of several shortwave radio stations that broadcast Voice of America programming in various languages and affirmed the broadcaster will vacate its current headquarters for studios housed by NASA Television.

Congress to continue funding Voice of America, despite Trump’s wishes

Key Points

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