The outlet has announced that it will take legal action to restore federal funds.
More than 200 US Radio Asia employees were notified on March 19th that they would take unpaid leave this week after the Trump administration announced they were cancelling funds.
Radio Free Asia, broadcast across Asia since 1996, has relied entirely on federal funding and has more than 300 full-time employees based in the US. That number now drops to about 75.
“There is little remaining funds left to pay our staff. We are floating the RFA as we pursue legal challenges to the termination of grants that are deemed illegal,” he said at the City Hall meeting on March 19.
Mahajan said that visa status depends on employment status and staff who may face persecution if they return to their home country will receive a prioritized exemption from Farrow. All Furloughed staff will continue to receive health care until at least April.
He said it is unclear how long the Farrow period will last.
Related Stories
The news comes after Voice of America announced that it would place around 1,300 journalists, producers and assistants on administrative leave as funding ends.
“There are bright spots for agencies with talented and dedicated civil servants, but this is an exception, not a rule,” she said. “It is unfortunate that work done by self-interested insiders in conjunction with external activist groups and radical left advocacy groups was done with radical left advocacy groups because government agencies made reform impossible.”
Radio Free Asia CEO Bay Fang wrote to the Lake on March 19, saying the termination of funds was “a breach of the obvious terms of the U.S. Constitution, federal laws and regulations, and the RFA grant agreement.”
President Donald Trump signed the executive order on March 14, directing the USAGM and six other agencies to reduce the amount to the minimum required by law.
“Our federal government is in debt over $36 trillion, and President Trump is committed to making the government more efficient,” White House National Security Council spokesman Blaine Hughes when asked to comment on the letter from Reuters.
“We are confident that our restructuring efforts will strengthen American diplomatic efforts overseas,” he added.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty launched its own legal challenge to Tuesday’s financial suspension.
Reuters and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
