(TibetanReview.net, Mar28’25) – Radio Free Asia (RFA) which is mandated to transmit uncensored news to millions of people living under authoritarian regimes in Asia, including Tibet and China, has filed a lawsuit on Mar 27, demanding the restoration of its congressionally-mandated funding which was abruptly frozen earlier this month by an executive order by the Trump administration. A temporary restraining order over the executive order, if granted, would not only be a big relief but may augur well for the lawsuit’s eventual fate.
The lawsuit asserts that denying funding for RFA, which comes through grants administered by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), violated federal laws, including the US Constitution, because only Congress has the power over federal spending, reported rfa.org Mar 27.
The suit has been filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
“RFA remains committed to fulfilling its Congressional mandate of providing a voice that counters the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian regimes in Asia,” RFA President and CEO Bay Fang has said in a press release, calling the fund freeze “unlawful.”
Those named as defendants in the lawsuit include Victor Morales, acting CEO of USAGM; Kari Lake, senior advisor to Morales; Russell Vought, director of the US Office of Management and Budget; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The termination of the grant, announced Mar 15, has forced RFA to put on leave most of its Washington-based staff.
President Trump’s Mar 15 executive order called for the reduction of non-statutory components of USAGM.
RFA was established by the congress with bipartisan support in 1996 in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing. It is broadcast in nine languages to countries and regions across Asia that have little or no press freedom, such as North Korea, China, Tibet, East Turkestan (Xinjiang), Myanmar and Vietnam, providing independent news and information to millions of people every week by radio, television and online means.
The lawsuit is said to contend that due to USAGM’s actions to terminate funding, “RFA’s operations have already been effectively shuttered, making it nearly impossible to perform its statutory mission.”
RFA is stated to be also seeking a temporary restraining order to bar USAGM and the other defendants from impounding congressionally appropriated funds, and a stay in the termination of its grant, including a nearly $35 million in funds appropriated to it by Congress up to Sep 30, 2025.
On Mar 25, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was granted a temporary restraining order against the executive order terminating its funding in a separate US district court lawsuit. The judge was stated to have held that USAGM did not adequately justify its decision, and that forcing the closure of RFE/RL while it challenges the agency’s decision would cause “irreparable harm.”