Trump Orders Gutting of 7 Agencies, Including Voice of America's Parent [View all]

Source: New York Times

Trump Orders Gutting of 7 Agencies, Including Voice of America's Parent

The order targeting the agencies, largely obscure entities that address issues like labor mediation and homelessness prevention, appeared to test the bounds of the president's power.


The Voice of America building in Washington. President Trump is seeking to dismantle the federal agency that oversees the outlet. Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

By Tyler Pager
Reporting from West Palm Beach, Fla.
March 15, 2025, 1:24 a.m. ET

President Trump signed an executive order on Friday 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 labor 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 U.S. 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 organization, with a budget of roughly $270 million and more than 2,000 employees, broadcasts in 49 languages. It has a weekly estimated audience of more than 361 million people.

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Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration. More about Tyler Pager
https://www.nytimes.com/by/tyler-pager

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/us/politics/trump-order-voice-of-america.html

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Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2025/03/new-trump-order-aims-to-dismantle-seven-agencies/

New Trump Order Aims To Dismantle Seven Agencies
March 15, 2025

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https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/continuing-the-reduction-of-the-federal-bureaucracy/

PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS
CONTINUING THE REDUCTION OF THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY
The White House
March 14, 2025

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. This order continues the reduction in the elements of the Federal bureaucracy that the President has determined are unnecessary.
Sec. 2. Reducing the Scope of the Federal Bureaucracy.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law:
(i) the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;
(ii) the United States Agency for Global Media;
(iii) the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution;
(iv) the Institute of Museum and Library Services;
(v) the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness;
(vi) the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and
(vii) the Minority Business Development Agency.

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