Judge Orders the Trump Administration to Return Funds Assigned to Radio Free Europe
The judge rebuked the Trump administration for refusing to disburse funds that Congress had already approved.
“It is clear that USAGM (the U.S. Agency for Global Media) has failed to meet its obligation to articulate a satisfactory explanation for its final grant agreement,” Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia Court noted in his ruling.
The funding cuts to Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty were announced on March 15 amid cost-cutting measures and accusations from Elon Musk, then head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), that the station is “crazy leftist” and, with an annual budget of about $150 million, overstaffed its welcome.
The outlet sued the U.S. government shortly after. arguing that denying funds appropriated by Congress violates federal law and the Constitution, which gives Congress sole control over federal spending.
The station, created during the Cold War to provide information distinct from that of official channels of authoritarian regimes, continues to play a key role in promoting press freedom in regions where access to independent information is restricted or limited.
Lamberth stressed this Friday that Congress has appropriated funding to RFE/RL every year since the enactment of the International Broadcasting Act in 1987.
During the first six months of this, his second term, Trump has attacked various federally funded media outlets, such as Voice of America (VOA), of which laid off its journalists and ceased operations.
Early Thursday morning, Congress approved, after the final vote in the House of Representatives, a package of cuts of about $9 billion to funds previously allocated for foreign aid and public broadcasting, a proposal by the Republican leader that affects the NPR and PBS networks.
Lamberth cites this vote in his ruling, "which reflects that the Administration knows the proper procedure for recovering funds already allocated, a procedure that is conspicuously absent" in this case.
And the fact is that Trump had requested the rescission or cancellation of funds that had already been previously allocated by the Legislature and Congress only had 45 days to approve or reject the package, a deadline that ended this Friday.