Congress trims State’s Internet freedom funds

In a rebuke to the State Department, Congress has cut its budget for promoting Internet freedom and directed the government’s international broadcasting arm to take over some of the job of helping people in repressive societies reach censored Web sites.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has made Internet freedom a signature issue. But State Department officials have battled with lawmakers and others over how to spend tens of millions of dollars intended to promote the “freedom to connect.” The issue has taken on added urgency as demonstrators in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries have used social media sites such as Facebook to organize uprisings. The 2011 budget bill that Congress is expected to pass Thursday gives the State Department $20?million for Internet freedom projects, a one-third decrease from last year. It awards $10?million in Internet freedom funds to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other government-funded media outlets.