Judge Pauses Federal Government’s Plan to Cut Jobs at Voice of America’s Parent Agency

A federal judge on Sept. 29 ordered the federal government to pause its plan to cut hundreds of jobs at the agency that oversees state-funded broadcaster Voice of America (VOA).

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington said in a written order that the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) must temporarily withhold its plan to terminate 532 full-time jobs, while the court determines whether the federal agency complied with an earlier court order.

In April, Lamberth granted a preliminary injunction for the plaintiffs, ordering that employees of VOA, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network be reinstated and returned to their prior status. Other groups under the USAGM were excluded.

In the injunction, Lamberth pointed to the legal requirement that VOA “serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.”

Lamberth said in Monday’s order that he “no longer harbors any doubt” that the defendants “lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction.”

Instead, they have “been running out the clock on the fiscal year while remaining in violation of even the most meager reading of USAGM and Voice of America’s statutory obligations,” he said.

The administration’s plan would eliminate functions that are central to the broadcaster’s operation—such as radio broadcast technicians—such that it would be “nearly impossible for VOA to ramp up its broadcasting to meet its statutory obligations,” the judge wrote.

He added that the Trump administration had “resisted the Court’s efforts to obtain information concerning whether they have fashioned a plan for compliance with its earlier mandate,” and had not provided the court “a non-arbitrary justification for the proposed reduction in force.”

White House spokesperson Liz Huston told The Epoch Times the federal government will appeal the decision.

“President Trump was elected to root out waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government–including at Voice of America–and today, an activist judge attempted to subvert the will of the American people. Hardworking American taxpayers should not be on the hook for radical, left-wing propaganda,” Huston said in a statement.

“The Trump Administration will appeal this outrageous decision, and we are confident we will ultimately prevail in court.”

VOA employees who filed the lawsuit said in a statement that they were “extremely gratified” by the decision and “believe the wholesale silencing of VOA broadcasts and the removal of critical staff and expertise go against what Congress intended.”

The Epoch Times contacted the USAGM and the plaintiffs for further comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Joseph Lord and Reuters contributed to this report.