What is USAID? Why President Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to end it?

What is USAID? Why President Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to end it?
The US Agency for International Development, known as USAID, was established during the Cold War in 1961. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 03 February 2025
Follow

What is USAID? Why President Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to end it?

What is USAID? Why President Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to end it?
  • Since its establishment in 1961, Republicans and Democrats have fought over the USAID and its funding.
  • Its first mission was to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance

WASHINGTON: Dozens of senior officials put on leave. Thousands of contractors laid off. A freeze put on billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to other countries.
Over the last two weeks, President Donald Trump’s administration has made significant changes to the US agency charged with delivering humanitarian assistance overseas that has left aid organizations agonizing over whether they can continue with programs such as nutritional assistance for malnourished infants and children.
Then-President John F. Kennedy established the US Agency for International Development, known as USAID, during the Cold War. In the decades since, Republicans and Democrats have fought over the agency and its funding.
Here’s a look at USAID, its history and the changes made since Trump took office.
What is USAID?
Kennedy created USAID at the height of the United States’ Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union. He wanted a more efficient way to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance and saw the State Department as frustratingly bureaucratic at doing that.
Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act and Kennedy set up USAID as an independent agency in 1961.
USAID has outlived the Soviet Union, which fell in 1991. Today, supporters of USAID argue that US assistance in countries counters Russian and Chinese influence. China has its own “belt and road” foreign aid program worldwide operating in many countries that the US also wants as partners.
Critics say the programs are wasteful and promote a liberal agenda.
What’s going on with USAID?
On his first day in office Jan. 20, Trump implemented a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance. Four days later, Peter Marocco — a returning political appointee from Trump’s first term — drafted a tougher than expected interpretation of that order, a move that shut down thousands of programs around the world and forced furloughs and layoffs.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since moved to keep more kinds of strictly life-saving emergency programs going during the freeze. But confusion over what programs are exempted from the Trump administration’s stop-work orders — and fear of losing US aid permanently — is still freezing aid and development work globally.
Dozens of senior officials have been put on leave, thousands of contractors laid off, and employees were told Monday not to enter its Washington headquarters. And USAID’s website and its account on the X platform have been taken down.
It’s part of a Trump administration crackdown hitting the federal government and its programs. But USAID and foreign aid are among those hit the hardest.
Rubio said the administration’s aim was a program-by-program review of which projects make “America safer, stronger or more prosperous.”
The decision to shut down US-funded programs during the 90-day review meant the US was “getting a lot more cooperation” from recipients of humanitarian, development and security assistance, Rubio said.




US billionaire Elon Musk arrives for the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th US President, Jan. 20 (AFP)

What do critics of USAID say?
Republicans typically push to give the State Department — which provides overall foreign policy guidance to USAID — more control of its policy and funds. Democrats typically promote USAID autonomy and authority.
Funding for United Nations agencies, including peacekeeping, human rights and refugee agencies, have been traditional targets for Republican administrations to cut. The first Trump administration moved to reduce foreign aid spending, suspending payments to various UN agencies, including the UN Population Fund and funding to the Palestinian Authority.
In Trump’s first term, the US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and its financial obligations to that body. The US is also barred from funding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, under a bill signed by then-President Joe Biden last March.
Why is Elon Musk going after USAID?
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, has launched a sweeping effort empowered by Trump to fire government workers and cut trillions in government spending. USAID is one of his prime targets. Musk alleges USAID funding has been used to launch deadly programs and called it a “criminal organization.”
What is being affected by the USAID freeze?
Sub-Saharan Africa could suffer more than any other region during the aid pause. The US gave the region more than $6.5 billion in humanitarian assistance last year. HIV patients in Africa arriving at clinics funded by an acclaimed US program that helped rein in the global AIDS epidemic of the 1980s found locked doors.
There are also already ramifications in Latin America. In southern Mexico, a busy shelter for migrants has been left without a doctor. A program to provide mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth fleeing Venezuela was disbanded.
In Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala, so-called “Safe Mobility Offices” where migrants can legally apply to enter the US have been shuttered.
The aid community is struggling to get the full picture— how many thousands of programs have shut down, and how many thousands of workers were furloughed and laid off under the freeze?
How much does the US spend on foreign aid?
In all, the US spent about roughly $40 billion in foreign aid in the 2023 fiscal year, according to a report published last month by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
The US is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance globally, although some other countries spend a bigger share of their budget on it. Foreign assistance overall amounts to less than 1 percent of the US budget.
Could Trump dissolve USAID on his own?
Democrats say presidents lack the constitutional authority to eliminate USAID. But it’s not clear what would stop him from trying.
A mini-version of that legal battle played out in Trump’s first term when he tried to cut the budget for foreign operations by a third.
When Congress refused, the Trump administration used freezes and other tactics to cut the flow of funds already appropriated by Congress for foreign programs. The General Accounting Office later ruled that it violated a law known as the Impoundment Control Act.
It’s a law we may be hearing more of.
“Live by executive order, die by executive order,” Musk said on X Saturday in reference to USAID.


Macron wants ‘clear pressure’ on Moscow to accept ceasefire

Macron wants ‘clear pressure’ on Moscow to accept ceasefire
Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

Macron wants ‘clear pressure’ on Moscow to accept ceasefire

Macron wants ‘clear pressure’ on Moscow to accept ceasefire
Russia “does not give the impression it sincerely wants peace,” Macron said
“Russia must respond clearly and the pressure must be clear, in conjunction with the United States, to obtain this ceasefire“

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that Europe and the United States had to put pressure on Russia to accept a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine.
Russia “does not give the impression it sincerely wants peace,” Macron said in a statement provided to AFP following a Saturday morning video conference of countries backing Ukraine organized by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
On the contrary, Russian President Vladimir Putin is “escalating the fighting” and “wants to get everything, then negotiate,” he said.
“Russia must respond clearly and the pressure must be clear, in conjunction with the United States, to obtain this ceasefire,” he added.
In a statement released later Saturday, his office said Macron would Canada’s new prime minister Mark Carney on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and “other international crises.”
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has stressed his desire to end the three-year old conflict, and has made a spectacular rapprochement with Vladimir Putin.
After a very public falling out between Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last month, Kyiv has worked to restore relations. It has backed Washington’s proposed a 30-day ceasefire, which Russia has not accepted.
“This is a moment of truth because if Russia does not sincerely commit to peace, President Trump will toughen sanctions and retaliation, and so that will completely change the dynamic,” Macron said in a interview Friday with French regional papers that was posted late Saturday.
He said planning was accelerating among countries willing to provide security guarantees for Ukraine following any eventual ceasefire, such as France and Britain.
Military leaders from some 30 countries met in Paris on March 11 to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, and will meet again Thursday in Britain.
“Several European countries, and indeed non-European ones, have expressed their willingness to join” a possible deployment to Ukraine to secure a future peace agreement with Russia, said Macron.
This would involve “a few thousand troops” per state, deployed at key points, to conduct training programs and “show our long-term support,” he told the regional papers.
Moscow has firmly opposed such a deployment.
But Macron said: “If Ukraine requests allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or reject them.
He added: “Under no circumstances can the Ukrainians make territorial concessions without having any security guarantees.”
Macron will travel to Berlin Tuesday for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks on Ukraine ahead of an EU summit, Berlin has announced.

Lawyers for detained Columbia student ask for his release on bail

Lawyers for detained Columbia student ask for his release on bail
Updated 46 min 45 sec ago
Follow

Lawyers for detained Columbia student ask for his release on bail

Lawyers for detained Columbia student ask for his release on bail
  • Mahmoud Khalil — a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent — was arrested a week ago at his university residence
  • His wife, an American citizen, is due to give birth next month

NEW YORK: A Columbia University student detained over his pro-Palestinian activism is not a flight risk and should be allowed to return home for the birth of his first child, his lawyers argued in a motion for bail on Saturday.
Mahmoud Khalil — a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent — was arrested a week ago at his university residence.
He has not been charged with a crime and is being held in immigration custody in Louisiana. His wife, an American citizen, is due to give birth next month.
The case has become a flashpoint for President Donald Trump’s vow to deport some activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian militants. Khalil was a prominent member of the protest movement at Columbia University.
His arrest sparked protests this week. Justice Department lawyers have argued the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
The US will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days, Rubio said on Friday.
Under a provision of the US Immigration and Nationality Act, a law passed in 1952, any immigrant may be deported if the secretary of state deems their presence in the country potentially adverse to American foreign policy. Legal experts have said that provision is rarely invoked, and Khalil’s lawyers have said it was not intended to silence dissent.
“His detention unquestionably chills his speech, as the federal government monitors and controls his ability to communicate with the outside world and has complete power over all of the decisions that impact his daily life inside a remote private prison,” his lawyers argued in the motion for bail.
They said if released, Khalil would return home to help his wife prepare for the birth of their child and start a job at a human rights organization in New York. He has the support of many current and former classmates, professors, colleagues and friends who are calling for his release, they said.
“There are no allegations that Mr. Khalil is a flight risk or a danger to the community,” his lawyers argued. “Mr. Khalil has never been arrested or convicted of a crime.”
The US Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Justice Department said on Friday: “Being in the United States as a non-citizen is a privilege, not a right ... Mahmoud won’t be missed.” Since Khalil’s arrest, federal agents have searched two student residences at Columbia University and the Justice Department said on Friday it was looking into what it said were possible violations of terrorism laws during the protests.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also said on Friday that a Columbia student from India, whose visa was revoked on March 5, had left the country herself on March 11.
Noem said a second woman — a Palestinian from the West Bank who took part in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University — was arrested for overstaying her expired student visa, which was terminated in 2022 for lack of attendance.


Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown

Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown
Updated 15 March 2025
Follow

Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown

Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown
  • The bill largely keeps government funding at levels set during Joe Biden’s presidency, though with changes
  • Senate Democrats argued for days over whether to force a shutdown, livid that Republicans in the House had drafted and passed the spending measure without their input

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation funding the government through the end of September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown and capping off a struggle in Congress that deeply divided Democrats.
Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, said in a post on X that Trump signed the continuing resolution Saturday.
The bill largely keeps government funding at levels set during Joe Biden’s presidency, though with changes. It trims non-defense spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increases defense spending by about $6 billion, which are marginal changes when talking about a topline spending level of nearly $1.7 trillion.
The Senate cleared the legislation on Friday in a 54-46 party line vote, with 10 members of the Senate Democratic caucus helping the bill advance to passage despite opposition from within their party — most vocally from colleagues in the House, who exhorted them to reject the bill out of hand.
Senate Democrats argued for days over whether to force a shutdown, livid that Republicans in the House had drafted and passed the spending measure without their input. Democrats said the legislation shortchanges health care, housing and other priorities and gives Trump wide leeway to redirect federal spending even as his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency rapidly dismantle congressionally approved agencies and programs.
In the end, enough of the Democratic senators decided a government shutdown would be even worse than letting the funding bill pass.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said a shutdown would have given the Trump administration the ability to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired.
“A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate.”
Passage of the funding bill through the House earlier in the week was a victory for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who managed to hold Republicans together and muscle the bill to passage without support from Democrats — something they’ve rarely been able to achieve in the past.


Chinese military jet crashes, pilot safely ejects

Chinese military jet crashes, pilot safely ejects
Updated 15 March 2025
Follow

Chinese military jet crashes, pilot safely ejects

Chinese military jet crashes, pilot safely ejects
  • The fighter jet, from the Chinese military’s Southern Theater Command, crashed in an open area in the southern island province of Hainan
  • The southern command oversees some of the country’s most sensitive areas including the South China Sea

BEIJING: A Chinese naval fighter jet crashed on Saturday during a training exercise but its pilot successfully ejected from the plane, the military said.
The fighter jet, from the Chinese military’s Southern Theater Command, crashed in an open area in the southern island province of Hainan, the navy said in a statement on social media.
The southern command oversees some of the country’s most sensitive areas including the South China Sea, where there has been a spate of violent clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels in recent years around disputed reefs and islands in the area.
“The pilot successfully ejected, and no collateral damage was caused on the ground,” the statement said.
An investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched and the navy is organizing efforts to handle the aftermath, it added.
China has for years sought to expand its presence in contested areas of the sea, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.
In recent months, Beijing has more firmly asserted its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines are defending their own claims.
Last month, the Philippine Coast Guard condemned “dangerous” maneuvers by a Chinese Navy helicopter it said had flown within meters of a surveillance flight carrying a group of journalists over the contested Scarborough Shoal.


Scholz calls on Russia to work toward ‘just peace’ in Ukraine

Scholz calls on Russia to work toward ‘just peace’ in Ukraine
Updated 15 March 2025
Follow

Scholz calls on Russia to work toward ‘just peace’ in Ukraine

Scholz calls on Russia to work toward ‘just peace’ in Ukraine
  • “It is now up to Russia to put an end to its daily attacks,” Scholz said

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday called on Russia to finally work toward a just peace in Ukraine after three years of war.
“It is now up to Russia to put an end to its daily attacks against Ukrainian cities and civil infrastructure and to finally take the way of a lasting and just peace,” Scholz said in a statement after participating in a virtual summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.