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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to eliminate several additional federal agencies, including one that oversees the federally funded media outlet Voice of America, or VOA, testing the limits of his authoritative power as he seeks to shrink the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy.
One order signed Friday night calls for the agencies—some of which are focused on minority business enterprises, museum and library services, and homelessness prevention—to “be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
A second executive order revoked 19 executive actions signed by President Joe Biden that promoted clean energy and environmental goals. The order terminates proclamations of national monuments created by Biden and ends the use of the Defense Production Act to expand the U.S. manufacturing of clean energy technology, such as for electric heat pumps and solar panels, among other Biden-era policies.
The White House claimed the rules stem from “radical ideology” and were wasteful. One of the regulations that Trump canceled was a Biden order that raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors.
The orders fulfill a longtime campaign promise from Trump: to erase signature labor and climate policy achievements by his predecessor by repealing dozens of Biden-era environmental rules and protections, which the president argues created more regulation and increased America’s dependence on foreign nations.
But the moves also reverse pro-labor executive actions such as those that protected workplace safety and boosted income for those low-wage sectors. Taken together, these reversals would directly hurt many of the rank-and-file blue-collar workers who supported Trump in the November election.
Since his return to office, Trump has signed a dizzying array of executive actions to enact his agenda and reduce the size of government, many of which have been challenged by opponents in court or reversed. Others test the boundaries of presidential power by potentially exceeding executive authority and bypassing congressional authorization.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM—the parent of VOA, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia—is an independent agency established by Congress. In 2020, Congress passed a law intended to limit the power of the agency’s presidentially appointed chief executive. More than 1,300 journalists, producers and staff at VOA received an email saying were placed on administrative leave Saturday, VOA Director Michael Abramowitz wrote on his private Facebook page.
The targeting of USAGM is not new, but concern around the media organization’s fate was renewed this year when Trump appointed Kari Lake, a loyalist who ran unsuccessfully for governor and Senate in Arizona, to serve as a special adviser at the agency.
Trump and other Republicans have long criticized VOA, whose mission is to counter authoritarian propaganda for foreign audiences with independent news. During his first administration, Trump chastised VOA’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, derisively called the outlet the “voice of the Soviet Union” and accused the independent news service of promoting Chinese government propaganda in its reporting about the outbreak. He also declined to renew visas of dozens of foreign journalists who work for the agency.
In early February, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who spearheads the U.S. DOGE Service tasked with reducing the size of government, had also called for the closure of VOA and other outlets at USAGM.
The Trump administration also terminated a grant for the Open Technology Fund, an internet freedom nonprofit that helped create Signal, the popular encrypted messaging app. The fund was slated to receive roughly $43.5 million annually in government funding through the USAGM, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
The new orders follow the administration’s ongoing efforts to shut down foreign policy and aid organizations—many of them established by congressional mandate. On Friday, several members of DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, showed up at the U.S. Institute of Peace accompanied by FBI agents, according to a statement from the institute on Saturday. After the institute officials informed them of the group’s status as a private and independent “non-executive branch agency,” the DOGE representatives departed, the statement said.
Similar DOGE interventions this month at the U.S. African Development Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation were successful in at least temporarily closing down those agencies. They were among the agencies listed in an executive order on Feb. 19 that called for their elimination.
Other entities targeted Friday also make broad impacts in Washington, such as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan global policy think tank. Also affected were the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which supports and funds libraries, archives and museums in every state; the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which focuses on labor disputes; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which centers on economically distressed communities; and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
The nonprofit EveryLibrary Institute decried the order and outlined that IMLS is statutorily required to send federal funding to state libraries. “Congress created this federal block grant program to support and extend library services in all the states through the state libraries,” a statement said. The American Library Association similarly criticized the order.
The money that could be saved by Trump’s latest actions is not even a blip in the government’s $1.7 trillion budget. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, for example, requested $4.3 million in this fiscal year’s budget.
The Wilson Center, whose operations also depend on private donations, requested $14.1 million in government funding.
The Wilson Center, a think tank with a slogan “fiercely nonpartisan,” is run by Mark Green, a former Republican congressman from Wisconsin who is affiliated with experts who have held leadership positions in the Republican National Committee. The center was created in 1968 through an act of Congress to be a living memorial to former president Woodrow Wilson, with the idea that it would serve as a nexus between scholarship and policymaking.
A spokesperson with the Wilson Center declined to comment on the order.
Hope Harrison, a historian who completed two fellowships at the Wilson Center and serves as a co-chair of one program’s advisory board, described the organization as “a shining center of the open arms of the U.S. to scholars and to independent thought.”
The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, for example, studied cases and wrote policy briefs about the dangers of the spread of such weapons, using historical context to advise on how to interact with countries including Iran and North Korea.
“One of the things at stake with this, but with so many other of the executive orders, is our standing in the world as a place of research and, in this case, policy-relevant research,” Harrison said. “I just have to think that Ronald Reagan would be rolling in his grave at the idea that this institution that has done so much to elucidate the history of the Cold War and its relevance would be at risk.”
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If we eliminate a million of the spending on those items that are a “blip” on the national debt, maybe we can make progress and avoid INSOLVENCY which All Democrats and many Republicans dont care about ….as long as they feed at the public trough, they just don’t care. If these things are to be prioritized over national defense, social security and Medicare, then so be it. I don’t think they should be.
John, this is just some combination of performative nonsense, revenge, and culture war red meat.
The issue is simple. We don’t collect enough money to fund the services that both parties want the government to provide. If Republicans were truly serious about the deficit, they would not be so intent on ramming through the tax cuts they recently gave the ultrawealthy.
We are not primarily debt because of any of these expenditures. This nonsense that any of these non-defense, non-entitlement items are, or have ever been, prioritized over spending on the military or Social Security or Medicare, is just that–nonsense.
We spend more on defense in one year than the next top 10 countries combined, and the waste in defense contracts has been well documented by numerous Inspector General reports. But, Congress loves keep inefficient, expensive, unnecessary, and outdated defense programs going in their districts.
And, Social Security and Medicare are entitlement programs designed to be funded by the payroll and self-employment taxes that individuals and their employers pay into the programs. An aging population does put a strain on these programs, but so does their tax structure. While taxable earnings subject to Medicare are currently not capped, Social Security has long had an earnings cap above which the Social Security tax no longer applies, which benefits only the affluent and wealthy. The 2024 Social Security cap is $168,600, whereas the median household income was $77,540. Affluent and wealthy individuals should pay Social Security on all their earnings, and the Social Security cap should be eliminated.
Also, general income tax rates should be raised and the additional revenue earmarked for paying down the national debt, instead the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress (or the zombified party left in the wake of the destruction of the GOP) are talking the insanity of lowering taxes so multi-billionaires like Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, and their buddies, can get yet *another* undeserved tax break.
DOGE with its fake savings (now it is hiding information about former claimed “savings”), the trashing of our federal government, and the stupid and reckless cuts being made to various government agencies have *nothing* to do with eliminating the national debt. This is a dog-and-pony show being put on to distract Americans from the fact that the Trump administration is attempting to rapidly turn our nation into a neo-Fascist oligarchy for the benefit of his billionaire tech tycoon backers.
John, the annual budget for USAGM in 2024 was $886M, the annual budget for social security is $1.6T. Eliminating USAGM is the equivalent of saving a little more than one half of 1% of just our social security expenditure. Looking at the numbers in reverse, the annual budget of social security is 1,800 times more than USAGM. To look at still another way, let’s say you were going to spend 18 bucks on the combined total of social security and USAGM, but you eliminate USAGM. Your bill is now $17.99.
The cheerleaders for DOGE also conveniently gloss over the reality of the costs of inefficiency baked into the “efficiency” initiative. Broken systems, inefficiency of poorly operating remaining functions, rehiring efforts, back pay settlements, wrongful firing judgments, lawsuit defense expenses, etc. all eat into any net savings.
The reality of DOGE is much less about efficiency than it is about “efficiency” theater.
The number of people justifying government waste no matter how “little or insignificant” in their minds is ridiculous. Some states operates with less I’d a budget than some of these agencies being eliminated. Give that money to the states.
The US actually collects WAY TOO MUCH MONEY. Frivously spends into debt. Obviously… without argument. Spending is totally out of control on total nonsense USAID, NGOs and Dem/Rep kickbacks – simple and tip of the iceberg examples. It is way worse with entitlements and Defense. Just hold on. Trump/DOGE is totally on the right track and directly over the target.
Sure, let’s do it. Have DOGE shut down Social Security and Medicare the same way they shut down everything else. That would solve the problem straight away, far more than all the other things you list.
I’m ready for it. Defund the old. Dump all subsides, from farmers to the poor. Give Trump voters what they voted for immediately, with no delay.
Hopefully, this is an attempt at sarcasm.
DOGE is both unlawful and destructive. More importantly, it is a DISTRACTION from the efforts by the Trump administration to refashion the United States into a neo-Fascist oligarchy for the benefit of Trump’s multi-billionaire tech tycoon masters–Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and crew. Even with heavy cuts to Defense and entitlements there would still not enough money to fund the planned multi-trillionaire dollar tax cuts that would primarily benefit the billionaire oligarchs. This is a all plan for a select ultra-wealthy too accrue even more money and power to themselves while the rest of us slave away for their benefit.
Most Americans do not want to be ruled by an oligarchy, not even most of Trump’s supporters want this.
We need to put a stop to this coup and restore our democratic republic.
Few things more hysterical than the breathless defense of the Deep State from IBJ”s predictable gaggle of Deep Staters, comparing (predictably) the acts of dismantling an array of decadent and bloated agencies with angry mustache man,, who HIMSELF totally wanted to shrink government of Weimar-era Germany. Or, of course, that these activities exclusively benefit the billionaires–or one billionaire specifically, the same one whose stock is crashing (much to their delight! or misery, since they’re the shareholders as well. Can they decide if it’s bad or good?!)…all while the president who supposedly is this billionaire’s toady has been enacting policies to eliminate EV benefits or government vehicle mandates.
You can’t make this stuff up.
If executive orders can create all of these bureaucracies (and, for the most part they did), executie orders can dismantle them.
I’ll concede that these actions are the inspiration of an angry mustache man. His name is Ronald Ulysses Swanson.
Lauren – Tesla WANTS EV subsidies to stop.
They received billions in subsidies to run their brand and build the national charging network and now don’t want competitors to get the same advantage.
DOGE is unlawful? Nope. Most 80/20 ratio love what Trump and Elon are leading. Democrats are viewed at the lowest level ever in recorded history. FACT! You both are a fools. Losing “democracy” is doing what you both propose. It would be a horrible mistake. SS and Medicare will not be shut down you flakes. It has been debunked 100x. You both, Joe and Chrissy, earned DOE worthless degrees. You owe $50K each for that worthless understand of nothing.
“ Spending is totally out of control on total nonsense USAID, NGOs and Dem/Rep kickbacks – simple and tip of the iceberg examples. It is way worse with entitlements and Defense.”
You said it, not me. And if you don’t think the end game is shutting down both programs entirely, you’ve been had. All Trump is doing is diminishing America’s place in the world. I don’t know how Putin gets through any televised appearance without falling down laughing at how well his plan at tearing down America is working.
It was dumb when Obama claimed he was going to balance the budget by going after fraud and waste and it’s dumb if you think Republicans are going to do squat about the deficit without touching the military and entitlements while keeping their tax cuts.
You probably believed Trump when he claimed he was going to give people better and cheaper healthcare, yet still doesn’t have a plan 8 years later. Or, maybe you think foreign countries don’t pass tariff costs onto American consumers.
The sooner everyone experiences what Trump wants to give them, the better. Whatever it takes to wake people up, I’m for it.
Yes, DOGE has no legal standing. It is not an official, congressionally authorized federal agency. It has no statutory authority. And even if 80-percent of Americans “love” it, that doesn’t legitimize it. So do you’re self a favor, return to your mom’s basement, and get back in touch with Qanon for new instructions.
Thank you Phillip t, and they need a little bit of education but they still refuse to believe it.
Trump is over the target. MOST people are for it. I’m for it.
I did not say this: NBC News poll: Just 7 percent of Americans have a very favorable opinion of the Democratic Party… the lowest number ever recorded.
Cherry-picking will not get you very far. In the same poll, the a majority of people polled, 54%, say the country is on the *wrong* track. Also, Trump’s approval rating is below 50%, sitting at 47%.
Here’s the reality:
Everyone considers the government spending in their state or local area as important and a prudent use of tax dollars … while the same programs somewhere else is “pork” and “wasteful”.
Just ask all the federal employees who were glad to vote for Trump and wanted the government to cut wasteful spending … right until random people decided their job was wasteful.
It’s been said for years now and it’s never been more true: “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.”
Phil, give the full picture. Just over a quarter of registered voters (27%) say they have positive views of the party, which is the party’s lowest positive rating in NBC News polling dating back to 1990. Just 7% say those views are “very” positive.
Meanwhile, Phil, a surging portion of American voters are dissatisfied with Elon Musk’s DOGE. Sixty percent of registered voters disapprove of how DOGE has dealt with federal government employees amid massive job cuts, reports a fresh Quinnipiac University survey.
In addition, 54 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that DOGE was doing “more damage than good” to America.
Joe. B. It shown the majority of government employees are going to vote democrat. So please stop with the lies
Rhea, you mean federal government employees didn’t vote for a guy who many feared would go after their unions?
Shocking.
“Nathan Hooven is a disabled Air Force veteran who voted for Donald Trump in November. Barely three months later, he’s now unemployed and says he feels betrayed by the president’s dramatic downsizing of the federal government that cost him his job.
“I think a lot of other veterans voted the same way, and we have been betrayed,” said Hooven, who was fired in February from a Virginia medical facility for veterans. “I feel like my life and the lives of so many like me, so many that have sacrificed so much for this country, are being destroyed.”
“ Matthew Sims, an Army veteran, lost his job last month as a program support assistant at a mental health clinic at a VA in Salem, Virginia, after moving with his wife and three children from Texas. He voted for Trump and said he supports reducing the size of the federal government but not this way.
“I support downsizing, but it’s just the way they’re going about doing it. It’s like the chainsaw approach, I guess, versus the surgical approach that they should be doing,” Sims said.”
Trump is doing exactly what Project 2025 promised. Shame on anyone for believing him when he claimed it wasn’t his plan.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-workers-veterans-fired-1032360fdc6b2fb33d88edaf8f54d5ca
The credibility in this reporting goes not further than it came from the WaPo. However, you can tell Bezo is asserting some control back because it didn’t list groups affected as Puppies, Handicapped Veterans, Single Mommies and Grandma.
The reporting is almost certainly more credible than the alternative “news” you’d offer up if you had any sort of actual refutation to the points made in the story.
Besides, if you really didn’t think the source is worth consuming, why did you read the story?
Bezos”s bevy of fat blue-haired catlady reporters (who still wear masks in private) would love to engage in open rebellion against him, because he’s showing an escalating fatigue toward their mindvirus….
…but they can’t, because if they criticize him too much, he can unceremoniously close the gasket on the money-pit newspaper he rescued from bankruptcy about a decade ago.
Frankly, it’s lucky for those catladies that he has such thick skin. If the tide turns and there’s another bloodletting at WaPo, I suppose at least a few of these charming women could start OF accounts, though even the subset who wear problem glasses don’t have bad enough eyesight. Then again, some guys, few though they may be, are into that kind of thing.
Thank you lauren, you speak the truth. Jeff bezos has started a campaign of cleaning house and turning the Washington Post around. Hopefully he will get rid of all these liberal mindset everything free for everybody tax the billionaires mindset.
If this wasn’t so sad and hurtful it’d be funny. The Institute of Museum and Library Services funds a lot a library services, mostly in rural Indiana.
Here is a quote from a rural central Indiana Library director:
“He’s going after libraries now. Our Evergreen Indiana consortium is partially funded by IMLS, as is the statewide courier service that all Indiana libraries use to share resources. The INspire databases are also supported by IMLS.”
The “Evergreen Indiana Consortium” runs the catalog computer systems most of the Indiana’s small library systems use. The courier service is vital to users of small libraries with small collections. Once again TRUSK team has taken an ax to something that citizens in rural Indiana county’s depend on and based on the comments here are too ignorant to know what the government was really doing for them. At the same time the buffoons in the state house are talking about cutting the taxes that will be needed more than ever to fill in for the missing federal dollars. WINNING, WINNING, and WINNING!
Get rid of 90% the librarians (most of them are pointless and insufferable anyway), let self-checkout machines and security take over, and abracadabra: the small-town libraries are saved. Problem solved and not a thing of value is lost.
I can tell from your response that you might not have ever set foot in a library in your adult life. Or you’re lucky enough to never needed a computer to fill out a job application because you don’t have a computer at home. Or you don’t want to waste money buying a big ticket item and couldn’t afford a subscription to Consumer Reports.
And you show such a lack of compassion for the people you are so quick to throw out a job.
Not Lauren out here clearly expressing she has no effing clue what libraries do! XD
Our government wants us all uneducated and poor..then they can continue to run the country for their own benefit..NOT for the benefit of the people..and oh yes, let’s remove all those “Everyone is welcome here” signs…SMDH
LOL. Another WaPo regurgitation easily identified by the headline. Nate knows his audience
The WaPo that Trump has praised and that Bezoes owns? You’re a demonstration that Conservatives don’t have any principles. Even if the owner of the outlet is an avowed Conservative who supports Trump, you will scream “fake” if it doesn’t fit your worldview.
Dumb to the dumb to the dumb dumb dumb.
So – a Republican news source?
“In addition, 54 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that DOGE was doing “more damage than good” to America.” um, more damage than the last 40 years? NOT EVEN CLOSE. It is not even a close reality. DOGE is the way it will be for the remainder of 4 years+ – the rest is just liberal whining because you (Dems/Liberals) do not have one atom of an alternative – losers. The reality is this: Libraries and museums and media MUST be decentralized like education and it is up to the state to support or not. Simple. Your federal dollars are gone! Deal with it at the state level.
Damage of the last 40 years? You mean the constant attacks on the viability of the middle class?
You want America from the 1950’s and 1960’s … without the tax rates that made that happen. When you could have a married couple with a single income home with a stay at home mom. To quote some of y’alls life coach Ralph Wiggum, that’s unpossible.
You – go on, Joe. Scream. Save the world. Open your wallet. The 5 bucks you have. Not me. IT (this) is unsustainable. You just want MORE as I read into you. I say as 85 million people say – NO F _ Way! States need to support states. State by state. CA is a mess on purpose. IN does not have to be them. Run your state. Education, Libraries, Museums, Park, Towns… etc. Get used to it. Four long years to go, little boy.