This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The State Department has eliminated $214 million in foreign funding initiatives, reports the Washington Free Beacon, canceling 139 grants that promoted things like "newsroom sustainability" in Moldova, "media diversity" in the United Kingdom, and "environmental resilience" in Armenia.
DOGE carried out the "supplemental review of remaining foreign assistance grant programs" after the State Department completed its initial foreign funding review in late February, an internal State Department memo obtained by the Free Beacon shows. This round of cuts comes after an initial DOGE review saw the State Department identify $60 billion worth of foreign grants for elimination.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X to highlight the action, saying, "We are cleaning up the mess left by the previous administration":
According to the Free Beacon, many of the latest round of canceled taxpayer-funded grants related to the media, including a $14.6 million program that supported "expanded newsroom sustainability and engagement" in Moldova; a $5.2 million "media diversity" grant that funded an "anti-disinformation program in the United Kingdom"; a $400,000 "Building Environmental Resilience" grant in Armenia; a $1 million grant "channeling gig workers' rights" in Brazil; and a $750,000 grant for "building the migrant domestic worker-led movement" in Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway over the government.
These latest cuts primarily impact the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, a grantmaking body that came under congressional scrutiny in 2022 for offering taxpayer cash to nonprofit organizations engaged in efforts to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes.
Other grants canceled included a $2.4 million initiative to combat "disinformation through creative content" in Belarus and $900,000 to establish a "place for women to join to organize" in Mauritania.
