ALBAWABA - Voice of America (VOA) and six other governmental agencies will be slashed as part of an executive order issued by former US President Donald Trump. According to Reuters, the action is in keeping with his administration's continuous attempts to simplify government processes and cut bureaucracy.
The ruling mandates that these organizations, some of which provide funding for homelessness programs, museums, and libraries, restrict their activities to the bare minimum needed by law. The directive, which was made public late Friday, outlines its goal as "continuing to reduce unnecessary elements of the federal bureaucracy."
Voice of America's new director is former news anchor Kari Lake, who had a falling out with the organization during his first tenure. As an outspoken Trump supporter, Lake has often charged that the media is biased against him.
The government-funded foreign news network Voice of America is available on radio, television, and internet channels in more than 40 languages. It is run by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also provides funding for Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The executive order impacts not only USAGM but also the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Minority Business Development Agency, and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. These organizations must cut down on all non-essential operations and staff in order to comply with the law.
The action is a component of Trump's larger endeavors to reorganize the federal government, a task that billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the Government Efficiency Management Initiative, has been primarily given. As a consequence of this strategy, several government projects and contracts have already been cancelled, foreign assistance has been frozen, and over 100,000 federal positions might be eliminated.
