Washington, D.C.—Today, U.S. Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY), a member of the Congressional Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus, voted to make permanent more than $9B in spending cuts recommended by DOGE. The package included steep cuts to foreign aid and government funded media outlets including NPR and PBS.
“My message to DOGE is simple: keep the cuts coming,” said Congressman Barr. “We saved taxpayers almost $10B by ending the left-wing slush fund at USAID, that funded outrageous projects like building “Net Zero cities in Mexico” and LGBTQ initiatives abroad. We also eliminated taxpayer funding for media outlets that were established to be non-partisan but increasingly have used taxpayer funding to promote a political agenda. While these news organizations have a right to promote left-wing causes, they don’t have a right to taxpayer money to fund it.”
Some of the foreign aid cuts that were Congressman Barr voted to eliminate today are below:
- $167,000 for free education and healthcare to Ecuadorian and Venezuelan migrants
- $889,000 for electoral reforms and voter education in Kenya
- $33,000 for "Being LGBTI in the Caribbean"
- $643,000 for LGBTQI+ programs in the Western Balkans
- $567,000 for LBGTQI+ programs in Uganda
- $8,000 for promoting vegan food in Zambia
- $500,000 for electric busses in Rwanda
- $67,000 for feeding insect powder to children in Madagascar
- $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street
While NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher testified in March that NPR is committed to “non-partisan journalism,” she is on record saying that President Trump is a "fascist" and "deranged racist.” Media Research Center released a study in December 2024 finding that the “independent news outlet” NPR used the term “far-right” 162 times vs “far-left” only six times during their coverage from 2023-2024.