The United States’ chief international aid agency is the latest on President Donald Trump’s chopping block after billionaire cost cutter Elon Musk announced on Monday that the duo had “agreed” the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) should be “shutdown.”
“It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm in it,” Musk said on his X platform. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”
Musk, the world’s richest man now in charge of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), made headlines over the weekend after he targeted the international aid agency and his team seized classified information on Saturday despite lacking the security clearance to do so, the Associated Press reported.
By Sunday, the USAID website went dark and on Monday employees were barred entry into its headquarters, while thousands of others had their work instantly put on hold.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named acting director of the independent agency.
WHAT IS USAID?
USAID was set up in the early 1960s to act on behalf of the U.S. to deliver aid across the globe, particularly in impoverished and underdeveloped regions.
In 1961, Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act to establish an agency that oversaw international spending in the aftermath of World War II when U.S. foreign aid drastically escalated.
President John F. Kennedy signed the act into law and created USAID through executive order.
The agency now operates out of 60 nations and employs some 10,000 people, two-thirds of whom work overseas – though most of the on-the-ground work is contracted out to third party organizations funded by USAID, according to a BBC report.
By 1998, USAID became an independent executive agency, which has prompted many to question whether the president has the power to unilaterally dissolve it.
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WHAT TYPE OF WORK DOES USAID DO?
The scope of work overseen by USAID is vast and ranges from administering foreign aid through humanitarian efforts like famine relief, clean water distribution programs, medical services including administering polio vaccines, HIV/AIDS relief and prevention work, to bolstering democracy, human rights and governance initiatives.
The agency’s operations abroad have shifted over the last six decades, initially focusing on combining technical aspects of existing international aid and development programs that arose in the aftermath of World War II. By the 1970s, its focus became addressing “basic human needs” like food access, health, education and population planning, according to an archived USAID website.
The agency has played a role for decades in not only supplying basic aid to underdeveloped regions, but in helping plan and implement programs to assist with democracy, economic development and social safety nets following major events across the globe such as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011.
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WHY DO TRUMP, MUSK AND RUBIO WANT TO TRASH USAID?
The U.S. far outspends its international peers when it comes to foreign aid, spending some $68 billion in 2023 – $40 billion of which was budgeted for USAID, reported the BBC.
Trump has been a longtime critic of overseas spending, arguing that it does not benefit the American taxpayer and going so far as to call those who run the top agency “radical lunatics.”
On Monday, Rubio echoed this sentiment and told reporters during a visit to El Salvador, “USAID is not functioning.”
“It needs to be aligned with the national interest of the U.S. They’re not a global charity, these are taxpayer dollars. People are asking simple questions. What are they doing with the money?” he continued. “We are spending taxpayers’ money. We owe the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our national interest.”
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USAID IN CONTROVERSY
USAID has become increasingly the target of heated U.S. politics, with Republicans arguing it is wasteful, promotes liberal agendas and should be enfolded into the State Department.
Democrats counter that the agency plays a vital role in U.S. national security interests and say it should remain independent. They point to the work USAID did to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War – a sphere of influence that could remain a concern amid China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
USAID has been increasingly questioned by Republicans over its alleged funding of research relating to the coronavirus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as well as millions in aid that supports LGBT rights abroad, and dozens of millions of dollars for migrant crises in other countries, like the nearly $45 million slated to provide emergency food assistance and economic support for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.
Following Trump’s freeze on foreign aid last month, Rubio allowed waivers to be submitted on projects that staffers believed should be pushed through.
Some 200 exceptions were sought for projects involving LGBT programs, as well as environmental justice initiatives. All were rejected, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
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