USAGM Rescinds RFE/RL Grant Termination
RFE/RL awaits official confirmation from USAGM that grant funding will resume
(WASHINGTON) — On March 26, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was informed by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) that the Agency is rescinding its letter terminating RFE/RL’s grant agreement for fiscal year 2025, and that the agreement is therefore back in effect.
The notification from USAGM follows a Tuesday ruling by Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granting RFE/RL’s request for a temporary restraining order against USAGM over its unlawful termination of RFE/RL’s congressionally appropriated funding. RFE/RL’s lawsuit seeks to ensure that the nonprofit media company receives the approximately $77 million that Congress appropriated to it.
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said:
“This is an encouraging sign that RFE/RL’s operations will be able to continue, as Congress intended. We await official confirmation from USAGM that grant funding will promptly resume based on the intention expressed in last night’s letter. We are eager to speak directly with USAGM leadership about the extraordinary and cost-effective work that RFE/RL performs for the American people.
This is not the time for RFE/RL to go silent. Millions of people rely on us for factual information in places where censorship is widespread. We must not cede ground to our adversaries at a time when threats to America are on the rise.”
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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach a weekly audience of nearly 50 million people in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.