President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Friday aimed at significantly reducing the parent organization of the U.S. government-funded media outlet Voice of America, along with six other federal entities, marking his administration’s ongoing efforts to downsize bureaucracy.
The directive mandates these agencies—mostly lesser-known organizations that provide funding for museums and libraries, as well as address homelessness—to operate at the bare minimum required by law.
“This order further reduces the components of the Federal bureaucracy deemed unnecessary by the President,” the order, revealed late Friday, states. Trump, who had conflicts with the Voice of America during his first term, appointed former news anchor Kari Lake as its director for his second term. Lake, a strong supporter of the president, has repeatedly claimed that mainstream media shows bias against Trump.
VOA, an international media broadcaster functioning in over 40 languages through online platforms and radio and television, falls under the governance of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. This agency also supports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.
In addition to the Agency for Global Media, Trump’s order seeks cuts in the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, and the Minority Business Development Agency.
According to the order, these agencies should eliminate all operations not established by statute and “reduce the execution of their statutory functions and accompanying personnel to the minimum necessary as prescribed by law.” This order reflects Trump’s continued efforts to reshape the federal bureaucracy, a responsibility largely entrusted to tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. Thus far, the DOGE initiative has identified potential reductions of over 100,000 positions within the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce, halted foreign aid, and canceled thousands of programs and contracts.
Certain Republicans have accused VOA and other government-funded media outlets of holding biases against conservatives. Last month, Musk advocated for the closure of VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via a post on his X social media platform.
During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Lake acknowledged the calls to entirely dismantle VOA but expressed her belief that it could be improved instead.
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