Writing in The National Review, NED Board Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL-6) highlights how authoritarian regimes—from Beijing to Moscow to Tehran—are celebrating NED’s funding disruption because it weakens those fighting for freedom worldwide. As one of America’s most cost-effective tools for advancing freedom, NED provides critical support to grassroots groups resisting repression and strengthening democratic institutions. Now more than ever, we must ensure that those risking everything for freedom are not abandoned.
“In recent days, America’s most dangerous adversaries have been celebrating what they see as a major victory: a funding freeze that has effectively halted the work of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), America’s foundation for freedom abroad. Authoritarian regimes in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, and Havana, the Taliban in Kabul, and terrorist networks are crowing. They’re doing so not just because NED has paused its grantmaking but because its worldwide network of grantees, who fight for freedom in their own societies, has been forced to halt critical work.”
