Krishnamoorthi Condemns Elimination of Critical U.S. Agency for Global Media Projects to Counter the CCP, Calls on Senators to Pause Confirmations Until Funding Restored

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) issued the following statement about the Trump Administration’s damaging cuts to key programs that counter the CCP’s global influence efforts:

“Congress created and appropriated funds to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) on a broad, bipartisan basis because it is a critical tool for our national security and for safeguarding human rights and democracy around the world. Eliminating key USAGM activities and slashing contracts to its broadcasters are affronts to Congress that severely weaken our ability to compete with the CCP and ultimately make us less safe. Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and the Open Technology Fund provide real reporting to millions living under authoritarian regimes, countering CCP distortion and providing Mandarin-language resources for the Chinese people to question the CCP’s propaganda and aggression toward the U.S. and our allies and partners.

“I call on my colleagues in the Senate to immediately pause all appropriate foreign policy confirmations pending the restoration of USAGM activities related to winning our competition with the CCP. The Trump Administration’s actions go against Congress’s bipartisan directives while gravely damaging our national security.”

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