State Dept Spox Asked About Rubio’s Support For Radio Free Asia: ‘Does He Want To Revive Funding’?

20 hours ago

During Friday's State Department Press Briefing, Spokesperson Tammy Bruce discussed the funding cuts to Radio Free Asia and the Voice of America.

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Transcript

00:00All right.

00:01All right.

00:02Now you're ready, right?

00:03Let's do it.

00:04Q Thank you, Tammy.

00:05You asked questions about this on Monday.

00:06It will have been almost a week since there was the announcement about termination of

00:11funds to USAGM broadcasters such as Voice of America and other grantees.

00:16As a senator, Secretary Rubio was supportive of the U.S. grantee broadcast of Radio Free

00:21Asia.

00:22He protected it from cutbacks in the past.

00:24Does he want to revive the funding for Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts into countries

00:29like China, Cambodia, and Vietnam?

00:31And is he aware that due to the funding termination, a number of the journalists who work for Radio

00:36Free Asia could face deportation back to countries like China and Vietnam, where they may face

00:42imprisonment as a consequence of the reporting work that they've done for the U.S. government

00:46by working for this outlet?

00:48And the same goes for Voice of America journalists, who also risk deportation back to countries

00:52such as Russia, Myanmar, Belarus, China, and Vietnam.

00:56Do you have a comment?

00:57Well, I did have that question, and I have the question out to the Secretary.

01:03It's something that I'm following up with as well.

01:05It has been a story, understandably.

01:07You're interested in the answers to this.

01:10So I'm going directly to him.

01:13He's a busy guy, but I'm going to continue to look for that from him.

01:19What I can tell you also, though, is that we're reducing clearly – he was elected

01:25in large part – to reduce the federal bureaucracy, right?

01:28It's about waste and fraud, mismanagement.

01:30This is something that has to occur.

01:33And in any dynamic, there's going to be actions and tough decisions that have to be

01:38made.

01:40Many of us personally also have to go through that when you're looking at a budget.

01:43The President continues to take action to ensure the whole of the United States government,

01:47including executive branch agencies, are in line with the administration's policy priorities.

01:53And I've said before, and I have to keep saying, is that many, many things are fluid,

02:00and it's good why you're here and why now we're doing this three days a week,

02:04but also when we address the issue, as I asked about the issue of visas.

02:11There are people who are reporting certain things, and like in any situation, if you're

02:14in the United States and you are – and you have to leave, you can also apply for asylum.

02:21If you are in a situation where you believe your returning to your home country puts you

02:26at significant risk, we have clearly procedures where you can apply for asylum, and that is

02:33– certainly, if someone is coming from that workplace or some other situation, that's

02:39something that people can do.

02:41If you have a visa – and every situation is different, that's why we don't discuss

02:45individual visa dynamics, but if someone is here and it is a work visa and it's – their

02:51employment has ended, there is a period of time – it's like any other visa dynamic

02:56for anyone who holds a visa, and you can learn about that at state.gov.

03:01You can talk to – there's a whole host of people that can help you.

03:05And if you've – I would guess if you're here on a work visa, that was probably a complicated

03:10– semi-complicated procedure, and so you're aware of these things.

03:14And so this is what is obvious for anyone in this kind of a situation, especially for

03:19those worried about the nature of reporting or a dynamic where they're concerned about

03:26returning.

03:27There are options like that, and that, again, is a very basic situation for everyone in

03:32that kind of a situation.

03:33Yes.

03:34Yes.

State Dept Spox Asked About Rubio’s Support For Radio Free Asia: ‘Does He Want To Revive Funding’?

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