Marco Rubio cuts $214 million in grants, axing funds for ‘newsroom sustainability’ in Moldova, UK ‘media diversity’
“We are cleaning up the mess the previous administration left and rebuilding an agency that’s focused on putting America First,” Rubio said.
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio slashed $214 million in foreign grants, eliminating 139 taxpayer-funded initiatives for foreign programs such as “media diversity” in the United Kingdom and “channeling gig workers’ rights” in Brazil.
This comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) identified $60 billion worth of foreign grants for elimination following a “supplemental review of remaining foreign assistance grant programs,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Some of the grants that have been axed include $14.6 million for “expanded newsroom sustainability and engagement” in Moldova; $5.2 million for a “media diversity” program in the United Kingdom that was intended to combat “disinformation;” $1 million for “gig workers’ rights” in Brazil; $750,000 for “building the migrant domestic worker-led movement” in Lebanon; and $400,000 for “building environmental resilience” in Armenia, according to a memo obtained by the publication.
“We are cleaning up the mess the previous administration left and rebuilding an agency that’s focused on putting America First,” said Marco Rubio in a post on X.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration suspended nearly all US foreign assistance while the State Department conducted its review. The review was postponed following a court battle, which has since been resolved. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been particularly impacted by the cuts, with DOGE reducing approximately 80 percent of its expenditures.
The primary target of the most recent cuts is the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), a grantmaking body that has been under scrutiny in the past for providing taxpayer funds for left-wing nonprofit organizations to investigate foreign allies.
“These programs – predominately administered by DRL – focus on wasteful DEI, censorship, media diversity and advocacy, ‘civic society’ and ‘pro democracy’ programming, fund NGOs whose activities are consistent with Administration priorities, and squander taxpayer dollars on wasteful diversity, equity, and sustainability socially oriented programs,” the memo stated, per the Free Beacon.
The cuts reportedly go into effect on Tuesday, April 15.
