President Trump has signed a rescission bill clawing back $9 billion that had been previously approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Just over a billion dollars was slated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. The rest of the money was destined for foreign assistance programs.
Amid the cuts to USAID, Doctors Without Borders slammed President Trump’s plan to destroy nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives that were set to be delivered overseas. In a statement, the organization decried the “callous waste that puts the health and lives of women and girls at risk.”
Meanwhile, public broadcaster GBH said Tuesday it is laying off staffers who produce the series “American Experience” and pausing the production of new documentaries. Stanley Nelson, the award-winning documentary filmmaker, said, “These cuts are especially devastating considering the current state of affairs in this country, when the preservation and teaching of American history is more needed — and more threatened — than ever before.”