Taxpayers are still absorbing a bill of about $1.6 million a week to keep 420 Voice of America employees on paid administrative leave, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General.
The report said the annual cost is an estimated $82.8 million. It also said that, as of July, 420 VOA employees were still on paid leave, even after President Trump cut the outlet and USAGM’s operations in March 2025 for financial reasons.
Voice of America falls under the United States Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, and reaches more than 361 million people globally in 49 languages, according to the source material. Trump said taxpayers were 'no longer on the hook for radical propaganda' when his administration dismantled the broadcaster.
The inspector general said USAGM 'could not demonstrate' that it sufficiently assessed the impact of losing experienced personnel on operations. The report said technical facilities and related support staff were not adequately considered when deciding which employees to place on administrative leave.
The same report said USAGM estimated the reduction in force would produce payroll savings, but legal proceedings kept the 420 employees on administrative leave through July 2026. The agency estimated that arrangement cost $3.2 million biweekly.
The inspector general also found that USAGM could not verify 99% of the documentation supporting the disposal of broadcasting equipment, infrastructure and property tied to VOA’s downsizing. It said that without complete and reliable records, transparency over property and lease management is reduced, and the risk of unverified disposal activity rises.
The report said USAGM also could not show that it considered the effect of the reductions on its credibility. It said the stoppage of services caused lapses in digital production and broadcasts that had a 'significant impact' on 'U.S. priorities.'
In March 2026, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Trump’s effort to wind down USAGM was unlawful and ordered more than 1,000 employees back to work. Lamberth wrote that the defendants had 'no method or approach' that the court could discern and took 'immediate and drastic action' without considering required functions or the harm to employees, contractors, journalists and media consumers.
The market lesson is hard to miss: when the federal bureaucracy is cut without a clean legal finish, the taxpayer can end up funding the shutdown and the reversal. Capital rewards clear rules, and this case shows what happens when Washington leaves too much ambiguity in the system.
For readers who care about limited government, the broader issue is not just VOA. It is the cost of keeping an agency in limbo, paying people not to work while the courts sort out a political fight. That is money that could have stayed with the taxpayer instead of circulating through administrative delay.
