WASHINGTON (DC News Now) -- DC News Now has obtained an email that was sent to Voice of America (VOA) employees Sunday night, telling them to "cease all work immediately" and that they would not be able to enter their places of work. VOA employees received the email after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to cut funding to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which houses VOA and other news services around the world. Senate passes Trump-endorsed fix to avert DC budget cuts Along with VOA, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Marti, a Spanish-language news service broadcasting in Cuba, are also being cut. The U.S. Agency for Global Media is the latest agency to be gutted by the Trump administration, which has taken a hacksaw approach to cutting federal spending. The email sent to VOA employees stated that a formal notice of termination would be issued with an effective date of March 31. Voice of America director, Michael Abramowitz, told the Associated Press that this is the first time in 83 years the news service is being silenced. Trump says he was ‘being a little bit sarcastic’ when he promised to end Ukraine war in 24 hours In a statement on Facebook, the National Press Club said the firing of VOA’s journalists calls into question the organization’s ability to carry out its mission of delivering independent reporting to places where press freedom doesn’t exist. The statement reads in part, "This move not only puts VOA’s credibility at risk but also undermines America’s long-standing commitment to a free and independent press." It’s not clear yet what President Trump’s plans are for the U.S.’s global news agency going forward, but it’s the latest move in the administration’s adversarial relationship with many U.S. media outlets. ...read more read less