The U.S. Agency for Global Media has formally sent a notice to Congress to House appropriators saying the agency will stop funding the Hungarian Language Service at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, ending U.S. taxpayer support for broadcast content to NATO allies.
U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Acting Director General Kari Lake sent a formal congressional notice to House Appropriations Subcommittee on Government, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart. The Agency provided notice pursuant to section 7015(a) and the International Broadcasting Operations section of the Department of State's Overseas Operations and Related Programs Act 2024, which is carried forward under the Continuing Appropriations Act for the full year 2025.
The notice to Congress informs that, after consultation with the State Department, USAGM is “closing and no longer funding the Hungarian language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), known as Szabad Europa.”
According to the document released Wednesday, the administration's position is that “the original justification for including Szabad Europa in the RFE/RL program in 2019 is not in the national interest of the United States” and that the program “undermines President Trump's foreign policy by opposing the duly elected Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán.” The notice also emphasizes that Orbán “was (and remains) the leader of Hungary, which is both a strong US ally and a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).”
The letter goes on to say that the use of U.S. taxpayer money for the development or distribution of U.S. government-funded content to audiences in NATO allies will cease, and states that “USAGM will cease using any and all U.S. taxpayer money for the purpose of developing content or distributing content to the populations of our NATO allies,” and that going forward the focus will be on reallocating resources “consistent with the Administration's priorities” rather than for programs distributed within allied countries that are NATO members. North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The notice also notes that USAGM, Voice of America, the Cuban Broadcasting Authority and non-federal grantees receiving taxpayer funding “do not exist to serve the interests, policies or agenda of the European Union or any other foreign government, federation or international organization, but rather exist solely to serve the American people,” and the administration's position is that the termination of the Hungarian service reflects that standard.
