Washington – Dozens of senior officials put on leave. Thousands of contractors closed. In other countries, a freeze was put on billions of dollars in humanitarian aid.
In the last two weeks, the administration of President Donald Trump has made significant changes in the US agency accused to provide humanitarian aid abroad, which has left aid organizations whether they have given up programs such as nutritional assistance for malnourished infants and children. Can continue together.
The then President John F. Kennedy established the American agency for international development known as USAID during the Cold War. In decades, Republican and Democrats have fought on the agency and its funding.
There is a look at the changes made since USAID, its history and Trump.
What is Usaid?
Kennedy built USAID at the height of the Cold War struggle of the United States with the Soviet Union. He wanted a more efficient way to combat the Soviet effect abroad through foreign aid and saw the Foreign Department as a bureaucracy in doing so.
The Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act and Kennedy established the USAID in 1961 as an independent agency.
The USAID has underlined the Soviet Union, which fell in 1991. Today, USAID supporters argue that American aid in countries counts Russian and Chinese influences. China’s own “Belt and Road” foreign aid program is working in many countries worldwide, which America also wants as partners.
Critics say the programs are useless and promote a generous agenda.
What’s happening with usaid?
On its first day in the office on 20 January, Trump implemented a 90-day freeze on foreign aid. Four days later, Peter Maroko – A returning political appointment from Trump’s first term – prepared a hard draft compared to the expected interpretation of the order, a step that closed thousands of programs around the world and furls and trim Forced
State Secretary Marco Rubio has shifted more strict life -saving emergency programs during the freeze. But what programs have been exempted from the stop-work order of Trump administration, there is a fear of losing confusion and permanently losing American assistance-still the aid and development work is still globally.
Dozens of senior officials are kept on leave, thousands of contractors have been closed, and employees were asked not to enter their Washington headquarters on Monday. And its account has been taken down on the USAID website and X platform.
It is part of a Trump administration that is killing the federal government and its programs. But USAID and foreign aid are among those who are the most difficult.
Rubio said the administration aims to review a program-by-program, with projects “America safe, strong or more prosperous”.
The decision to shut down American-funded programs during the 90-day review meant that the US was “receiving a lot of cooperation” from humanitarian, development and security aid recipients, Rubio said.
What do weSAID critics say?
Republicans usually push to give to the Foreign Department – which gives USAID overall foreign policy guidance – its policy and more control of money. Democrats usually promote USAID autonomy and authority.
Funding for United Nations agencies, including peace, human rights and refugee agencies, are traditional targets for Republican administration. The first Trump administration went to reduce foreign aid expenses, suspended payments to various United Nations agencies, including the United Nations Population Fund and Palestinian Authority.
In Trump’s first term, the US pulled out of its financial obligations for the United Nations Human Rights Council and that body. Last March, the US has also been barred from financing the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA under the bill signed by the then President Joe Biden.
Why is Elon Mask going after USAID?
The Department of Government Efficiency of Musk, known as Dogi, has initiated a comprehensive effort by Trump to set fire to government employees and cut trillions in government spending. Usaid is one of his major goals. Musk alleged that USAID funding was used to launch deadly programs and was called a “criminal organization”.
What is being affected by USAID freeze?
Sub-Sahara Africa may suffer more than any other region during aid break. The US gave the region more than $ 6.5 billion in humanitarian aid last year. HIV patients in Africa arrived in clinics funded by a acclaimed American program, curbing the global AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.
Latin America already has influences. In Mexico, a busy shelter for migrants in Southern Mexico is left without a doctor. LGBTQ+ a program was dissolved to provide mental health assistance to young escape Venezuela.
In Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala, so -called “safe mobility offices” where migrants can apply to legally close.
The aid community is struggling to get a full picture – how many thousands of programs have stopped and how many thousands of workers were inflated and placed under the freeze?
How much does America spend on foreign aid?
Among all, the US spent approximately $ 40 billion in foreign aid in the financial year of 2023, according to a report published by the US last month.
The US is the largest provider of humanitarian aid globally, although some other countries spend a large part of their budget on it. Foreign aid is lower than 1% of the US budget overall.
What do Americans think about foreign aid?
According to the March 2023 AP-NORC pole, the US government said that the US government was spending “too much” on foreign aid. Asked about specific costs, about 7 out of 10 American adults said that the US government is investing a lot of money to assist other countries. About 9 and 55% of Democrats in 10 Republican agreed that the country was overspecting foreign aid. At that time, 10 out of 10 American adults stated that the government was spending “very little” on domestic issues which included education, health care, infrastructure, social security and medicare.
Voting has shown that Americans spend the part of the federal budget on foreign aid. Surveys from the Kaiser Family Foundation have found that on average, Americans say that spending on foreign aid makes 31% federal budget rather than 1% or less.
Could Trump dissolve USAID on his own?
Democrats say that the presidents lack constitutional rights to eliminate USAID. But it is not clear what will prevent him from trying.
A mini-culture of that legal battle was played in Trump’s first term, when he tried to cut the budget for foreign operations from a third.
When the Congress refused, the Trump administration used freeze and other strategies to cut the flow of funds already approved by the Congress for foreign programs. The General Accounting Office later ruled that a law was violated, known as the Impoundment Control Act.
This is a law that we are hearing more.
In terms of USAID, X on Saturday said, “Live by executive order, die by executive order.”