7 months ago
23
(NewsNation) — The aboriginal of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is uncertain amid changes nether the Trump medication and a frost imposed connected billions of dollars successful overseas assistance.
A week aft President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on overseas aid, 2 apical USAID information officials were removed aft refusing to assistance representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency entree to restricted areas, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
Congressional Democrats person challenged the administration, fearing Trump whitethorn dissolve USAID's independency and merge the bureau with the State Department.
Here’s a person look astatine USAID and its mission:
What is USAID?
USAID provides humanitarian assistance to different countries impacted by conflicts and assists processing countries, chiefly by dishing retired funds to nongovernmental organizations, overseas governments and planetary organizations, oregon different U.S. agencies, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
The bureau has a fund of implicit $50 billion.
President John F. Kennedy created the enactment astatine the tallness of the Cold War to antagonistic Soviet influence. USAID contiguous is astatine the halfway of U.S. challenges to the increasing power of China, which has a palmy “Belt and Road” overseas aid program of its own.
Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act successful 1961, and Kennedy signed that instrumentality and an enforcement bid establishing USAID arsenic an autarkic agency.
The U.S. is by acold the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid, with USAID administering billions of dollars successful humanitarian, improvement and information assistance successful much than 100 countries.
Why bash immoderate privation USAID dismantled?
USAID, whose website vanished Saturday without explanation, has been 1 of the national agencies astir targeted by the Trump medication successful an escalating crackdown connected the national authorities and galore of its programs.
Several national websites have also gone dark in caller days.
The Trump medication and Secretary of State Marco Rubio person imposed an unprecedented frost connected overseas assistance that has unopen down overmuch of USAID’s humanitarian, improvement and information programs worldwide — compelling thousands of layoffs by assistance organizations — and ordered furloughs and leaves that person gutted the agency’s enactment and unit successful Washington.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said connected X that helium believes USAID is simply a “criminal organization” that should “die.”
Musk was responding to the quality that elder officials astatine USAID physically attempted to artifact radical from Musk’s caller section from having entree to unafraid systems, NBC News reported.
The Trump medication is making USAID a people successful its wide changes to the national government. In a three-page missive past week, it was revealed Trump is considering merging the agency into a subdivision nether the State Department.
Democrats have slammed Trump over the reports astir the merger, noting the bureau is “by statute, an autarkic establishment.”
How are lawmakers reacting?
Republicans and Democrats person agelong fought implicit the agency, arguing whether humanitarian and improvement assistance protects the U.S. by helping stabilize spouse countries and economies oregon is simply a discarded of money.
Democrats reason Trump has nary ineligible authorization to destruct a congressionally funded autarkic bureau and that the enactment of USAID is captious to nationalist security.
Trump and legislature Republicans assertion overmuch of overseas assistance and improvement programs are wasteful and azygous retired programs they accidental beforehand wide societal agendas.
The Hill and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
