Foreign Aid Halted

And USAID leadership placed on leave.

Via Politico: ‘It will kill people’: Chaos, confusion after Trump halts US foreign aid.

“This ‘stop work’ order is cruel and deadly,” said Asia Russell, the executive director of Health GAP, a nonprofit working on access to HIV treatment in developing countries. “It will kill people.”

Many federal workers, from the Pentagon to the U.S. Agency for International Development, are confused by the wording of the order, such as what exactly could qualify for an exemption. In some cases, their ability to get information is being stymied: In a note to staff obtained by POLITICO, a top USAID official told employees they needed prior top-level approval to even talk to institutions outside of the agency.

“The pause on all foreign assistance means a complete halt,” Ken Jackson, USAID’s assistant to the administrator for management and resources wrote in an agency-wide email to some 10,000 employees. Jackson said “all communications outside the agency, including to the State Department, must be approved by the Agency Front Office.” Failure to do so, he wrote, would result in unspecified disciplinary action.

Some USAID officials said that prompted them to reconsider requesting waivers. One said that “anyone that contradicts [the stop-work order] is seen as obstructionist, so putting something forward for a waiver can be risky.” The person, like others in this story, requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue.

All of this comports with James Joyner’s post from Sunday and my observations regarding the dictatorial behavior of the administration about the firing of the IGs. Trump is not acting like a new head of government who understands that the government of the United States is bigger than he is, existed before he did, and will exist after he is gone. No, this is the behavior of a president and a cadre of supporters who think that the government is now theirs. This is not just an issue of policy differences. This is, again, dictating outcomes in the context of already appropriated monies and preexisting policy choices.

It is also all short-sighted and highly irresponsible.

Among the aid groups that appear affected are ones that remove landmines from conflict zones; provide testing and treatment for people with HIV in many African countries through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; fund investigative reporting into Russian disinformation and organized crime networks; and tackle food insecurity worldwide.

To go along with the above we have, also via Politico, Top USAID career staff placed on immediate leave.

The Trump administration has ordered dozens of top career employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development to go on administrative leave, according to six people told of the decision.

The order — sent via email to members of the senior executive and senior Foreign Service — was issued close to the end of the business day Monday and was effective immediately, according to two current USAID officials and three former USAID officials told of the communication. It comes as USAID and the State Department have been ordered to impose halts on a vast number of humanitarian and related programs around the world.

The decision appears to affect nearly every career staffer who holds a top leadership role at the agency, at least in Washington — around 60 officials, the current and former officials said.

The cuts have left many offices within the agency entirely devoid of senior non-political leadership. The entire cadre of leaders who run USAID’s bureau for global health, for example, was put on leave, according to two of the officials.

So, yes, all of this is going to harm real people. And if one wants to ignore that the realpolitik of it all is that it harms the US national interest because things like USAID are how we project power and influence.

This is all foolish and irresponsible.

And it will all create even more anxiety for federal employees alongside a real human toll globally.

This is no way to govern.

But, no doubt many MAGAites will rejoice because they think that spending money abroad isn’t putting America first and that it is a massive savings (despite how little of the federal budget goes to foreign aid). And there is also the pesky fact that whatever money is saved here isn’t going to be spent on the American people anyway. The whole approach is built on lies.

FILED UNDER: US Politics, World Politics, , , , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Jen says:

    The cruelty is the point. Russ Vought, probably one of the worst humans on the planet, has said one of his goals is to inflict trauma on federal workers.

    Most Republicans don’t care. They’ve argued for years that we shouldn’t be sending a dime overseas “without taking care of our own first.” Of course, they don’t want to do that either. Adding to the list of things these purported “Christians” don’t understand is soft power (and simple decency).

    No one can say they didn’t know. This is all part of Project 2025.

    They certainly do seem to be turning America into a place no one would WANT to come to.

    4
  2. CSK says:

    Well, all the affected places are just “shithole countries,” right?

    2
  3. Joe says:

    My stepson is currently less than half way through a 2-year postíng in the Peace Corp in South America. There is some consternation in our house about whether that will go forward. Who knows, maybe China will fund it.

    2
  4. Daryl says:

    Is this supposed to lower the price of eggs???

    4
  5. Sleeping Dog says:

    Somewhere, I read that two countries have been exempted from the foreign aid ban, Israel and Egypt. They are by far the largest recipients of US aid and whatever savings might be accrued by the ban will be miniscule.

    3
  6. reid says:

    The hard-core MAGA lunatics are happy about this, of course, but at what point do the normal folks who voted for this start to have second thoughts? The media is surely reporting on it, but I’m afraid it’ll all be a bit abstract until it starts hitting them personally.

    Hopefully there’s a country left when it comes time for them to vote again.

    1
  7. just nutha says:

    fund investigative reporting into Russian disinformation and organized crime networks…

    Tom Swift gasped. “A clue!!” he exclaimed.

    1
  8. just nutha says:

    @CSK: Absolutely. Especially considering that, at least according to the article I linked to days ago, aid to Israel appears to be the only item spared.

    ETA; My mistake, Egypt and Israel. Thanks, Sleeping Dog.

  9. Scott says:

    @just nutha: At the risk of being pedantic, don’t you mean Frank or Joe Hardy?

    1
  10. just nutha says:

    No, falsely or not, Tom Swift came first to mind. Don’t know why though. And I forgot to include the trademark adverb phrase.

    My next thought was OS Dick Tracy, including “clew.” Kept Tom. (Dick Tracy doesn’t gasp.)

  11. gVOR10 says:

    @just nutha: Tom, from only a stick, some batteries, a few transistors, and a bit of wire, you’ve managed to fashion a club!

    1
  12. gVOR10 says:

    Reprising commentary from the W. Bush regime, Trump really does look to be the end of the “American Century”. Is there historical precedent for a great power’s hegemony ending without war (so far), just drawing inward and saying screw it, let someone else have it? (In this case China.) A tragedy as, with noteworthy exceptions, we’ve been an OK hegemon

    1
  13. Gavin says:

    @Daryl:

    Eggs have increased in price 37% this past week.

    1
  14. DK says:

    @Gavin: the WSJ reported coffee prices are also up, thanks to Trump’s Colombia chaos.

    Make Breakfast Affordable Again.

    1
  15. Not the IT Dept. says:

    No Tabs posting today? Then I’ll put it here. Sh*t’s getting real, homies. Our allies are not going to indulge Trump’s stupidities. I think this is actually worth its own post.

    “Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was in the middle of a lightning tour of European capitals to drum up support from allies in dealing with Trump…

    France has discussed with Denmark sending troops to Greenland in response to United States President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex the Danish territory, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said…

    “Barrot said in an interview with France’s Sud Radio that France had “started discussing [troop deployment] with Denmark,” but that it was not “Denmark’s wish” to proceed with the idea…

    “If Denmark calls for help, France will be there,” he said. “The European borders are sovereign whether it’s north, south, east and west … nobody can allow themselves to mess around with our borders.” Barrot also said that during a European Union foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday, his counterparts had expressed their “very strong support” for Copenhagen and “were ready to consider [sending troops]” if needed.

    Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/france-fm-jean-noel-barrot-floats-sending-troops-to-greenland-denmark/

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  16. reid says:

    @Not the IT Dept.: I can imagine how hard Putin is laughing about all of this. He’s succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

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  17. just nutha says:

    France has discussed with Denmark sending troops to Greenland in response to United States President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex the Danish territory, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said…

    Your right Luddite, we HAVE stayed too long at the carnival.

    ETA: “And the piano sounds like a carnival, and the microphone smells like a beer, and I sit at the bar and put bread in his jar and say ‘man, what am I doin here’.” (With apologies to Billy Joel. 🙁 )

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  18. just nutha says:

    @gVOR10: “Dorit said breathlessly.”

  19. Kathy says:

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    The French foreign minister might also want to remind whoever is listening that France has an independent nuclear arsenal, much of it dispersed in ten missile submarines.

    Ok. there’s no way, and I mean NONE, that France would strike with nukes at an aggressor country taking on Greenland. But they definitely would if said aggressor decided to punish France for standing up for a NATO and EU ally.

    Might also give pause to Mad Vlad when he begins ogling the Baltics, after the rapist takes his country out of NATO.

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  20. Not the IT Dept. says:

    If France really wants to mess with Trump’s head (and of all the countries in Europe, they would do it best), they’ll offer EU membership to Canada.

    Two things: (1) Canada’s Ellesmere Island in the Arctic is right beside Greenland (check out a Google map); (2) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence just where it’s surrounded by Canada’s Atlantic provinces and Quebec, there are two tiny islands owned by France: St-Pierre and Miquelon (again, check out a Google map)

    And Canada is a NATO ally as well as Denmark. And when a NATO ally is attacked, then others have a reason to come to its aid.

    (Trivia courtesy of my Canadian brother-in-law who really likes the EU membership idea)

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  21. Kathy says:

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    I swear I read something in the news about inviting Canada to join the EU a few days ago. It seems a fringe idea. A good idea, but not mainstream yet.

    Saint-Pierre and Miquelon are known to aviation enthusiasts with a penchant for odd flights. Air Saint-Pierre leases a 737 seasonally for flights to Paris.

    France has a lot of small territories all over the world. The longest ever domestic flight, alas no longer in operation, was Air Tahiti Nui from Papeete to Paris. I think it made a refueling stop in LAX. It was over 15,000 km, and crossed two oceans.