Letter to the Editor: Submitted by Thomas Hill

To the Editor:

President Trump, who intends to take a wrecking ball to our government, empowered Elon Musk to do the dirty work. One of the first casualties has been the U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID). Musk called it a “criminal organization” and said he was in the process of “shutting down” the agency.

Trump has no authority to abolish the USAID as it was established by Congress as an independent agency and by law only Congress can dissolve it.

The agency spends around $40 billion a year (about 0.7 percent of the US budget) to finance overseas foreign aid, disaster relief, and internal development programs. Although it has about 14,000 employees worldwide, the Trump administration plans to retain only around 290. About 1,400 U.S.-based staff members were put on indefinite administrative leave effective immediately and hundreds of contractors were issued stop-work orders.  Employees posted abroad are expected to return to the U.S. within 30 days.

This draconian approach has produced chaos and suffering across the globe. The USAID inspector general warned that over $489 million in food in transit has been halted and is in danger of rotting. Over 30 medical studies have been put at risk including trials of malaria treatment in children in Mozambique, treatment for cholera in Bangladesh, nutritional support for children in Ethiopia, tuberculous treatment for children in Peru and South Africa, and screening-and-treatment for cervical cancer in Malawi.

This is the world we get when uncritical and uncaring autocrats are put in charge.

Thomas Hill
Cedar Falls/Lansing