To highlight what is happening to US Foreign Aid?

[Locutus2000]

Elon Musk's taskforce have not just shut down NSAID (United States Agency for International Development) but are starting to actively erase its' existence.

Pressed about his support for USAID during his first term in office, Trump said he loved the “concept” but not the execution of the agency’s mission.
“They turn out to be radical left lunatics. And the concept of it is good, but it’s all about the people,” he said.

USAID logos and photos showing the humanitarian work the agency does around the globe were removed from its offices last week, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CNN.

“All of the visuals have been taken down. These are like large-scale photos of our work in developing countries that are in our lobbies, in our galleys, in communal kitchens, hallways,” a USAID employee said.

Another USAID worker told CNN: “They’ve taken the photos off the walls, and we’re missing half of our colleagues because our colleagues are gone and have been let go, and everyone sort of feels like they’re walking around with a target on their back.”

When asked if leaders in their department appeared to have any more information on the future of the agency’s work, the source said: “Our senior leaders have all been fired.”

Regardless of your position on Foreign Aid, this type of scorched-earth petty bullying of dissidents has to be intolerable?

So much slipping through the cracks with the barrage of Executive Orders, all entirely by design.

This is all feels like banana republic / post communist block stuff, ignoring the more worrying parallels.

AIBU to feel comparisons to historic dictatorships are becoming increasingly valid, hyperbole aside? All live and on social media for our kids to watch.

For me as someone in the sector and directly affected it’s also about the logistics and processes and the complete disregard of those.

For example, if any large donor were to say “Look we’re realigning our priorities, all proposals and previous submissions that are yet to be approved are on hold while we review” - it’s still rubbish for us…. But sure I see it from the donor country perspective.

But to unilaterally cut everything with no warning and no exit strategy is just insane. Not even thinking about the human element, just logistically speaking, like based upon the contract signed we then have sub contracts for procurements, car rental, office rental, internet subscriptions etc which all require a minimum notice period and will incur costs while those contracts are ended.

Then you have the programming itself, do a review first and say “Hey look we’re suspending things that aren’t life saving so this theatre project needs to wait until the review” would be a more strategic way forward than freezing everything, then everything has a mad panic, and a few days later a waiver is issued to cover life saving activities is just completely the wrong way round and not a productive process at all.

@snugsnug1

Here is a couple of paragraphs from the article:
^^
This week, various White House spokesmen had fun pointing out some recent projects which might not have been the best use of US taxpayer dollars: $1.5 million to ‘advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities’; $47,000 to fund a ‘transgender opera’ in Colombia; $2 million for sex changes in Guatemala. And hundreds of millions of dollars to provide better irrigation systems for Afghan poppy-growing projects as well as hundreds of thousands of meals for al Qaeda-related terrorists in Syria. It is one thing to actually feed your enemies, or fund their illegal drugs trade, but it might be even worse to go around the world paying people to display the worst woke excesses which took over America and most of the rest of the West in the past decade.
It reminds me of that classic from some years ago, when American ‘educators’ were paid to introduce Afghan women to conceptual art, including Marcel Duchamp’s famous urinal. The Afghan women in the class (caught on video) giggled as this poor western chump tried to get them up to speed on the 20th century. You could see on their faces what they were thinking: if this is the crap the West is going to push on us, maybe our husbands were right about the western infidel after all. It was, as many a wag said at the time, literally money down the toilet.

Same here. We're expecting a sector-wide collapse. There will be masses of local organisations that will have to close completely. They've already been firing people and closing projects left right and centre since the announcement. It's terrifying what it will do to the vulnerable people they work with.

And then there will be the knock on effect as it's not just USAID funding as such, but the US is also a back donor for the likes of UN agencies etc.

It's not just irresponsible what they are doing. It's inhumane.

I was going to link this article too. Nick Kristoff is excellent as always in explaining why this matters. Global health issues are a massive risk.

Fix the system for sure but this kind of total shutdown of projects is awful.

Be aware of fake news spreading X

Here is one

https://bsky.app/profile/shayan86.bsky.social/post/3lhhrgn6tn225

Elon Musk has shared this fake E! News video on X, which claims USAID has paid millions to Hollywood celebrities to visit Ukraine.

The clip, now community noted, is the work of a well-known Russian disinformation campaign that creates fake videos of news outlets to push anti-Ukrainian narratives.

First of all, these 'white house sources' have, I think we can agree, a vested interest in spinning what they're doing, and have not been shy about using disinformation.

And hundreds of millions of dollars to provide better irrigation systems for Afghan poppy-growing projects

Right, and here, the context, which they fail to provide, is that the money was, in fact, for better irrigation in order to convert the crop. The Spectator really has become a sad shadow of its former self. Being partisan is one thing, and fair enough, but they should be ashamed because this is just shoddy.

I think we need to look at this holistically, I don’t know which country you’re from, I’m going to assume either UK/US but please feel free to correct me if you meant a different country by “we”.

Firstly - Uk and US and other allies are still bombing some of these countries, so when people say “oh why should we be helping” well honestly - if countries don’t want to pay foreign aid to support programs or infrastructure then they should stop bombing these countries and destroying the infrastructure to begin with.

Secondly a lot of these programs actually go towards keeping people in their countries of origin - you mentioned return of asylum seekers and I won’t go into that as a concept but from this I’m guessing immigration and asylum are a concern of yours which is fair. Foreign aid supports countries with essential services to help keep people there so it’s actually in the interest of people who have immigration concerns to support funding that helps people stay in their countries of origin.

Overall I don’t necessarily see (as I live in these countries to run these types of programs) these countries as developing past most “western” countries in the near future - while some developed countries do receive funding for example European countries receive funding for some programs, most go to developing countries and realistically it’s to support basic services where there aren’t fully functioning hospitals, schools, employment opportunities.

It is also not going to be in the interest of the US or the UK when China and Russia step in to fill the void. Which presumably is one of the reasons those countries have long wanted to use disinformation to turn the population of the west against this kind of aid...

Right, and here, the context, which they fail to provide, is that the money was, in fact, for better irrigation in order to convert the crop. The Spectator really has become a sad shadow of its former self. Being partisan is one thing, and fair enough, but they should be ashamed because this is just shoddy.

@snugsnug1 sure - it sounds very unlikely to me. I wonder who provided the source.

American money, American's choice. LIke it or not, Trump was given a mandate by the majority. That's what everyone wants their elected government to do, isn't it? Unlike this Labour gov that's a complete liar.

Well the USA is trillions in debt.
Cuts are going to be massive and Trump will also be ruthless at improving income by demanding other countries pony up and pay more for shit the USA have been subsidizing.
Trump is being very bold in a role that’s usually more soft spoken diplomacy. His action are causing chaos.

Maybe the posters who think it's a travesty could stump up to support the Peruvian trans comic themselves? Would be pretty easy to organise online.

@GildedRage Yes, the US contributes a lot, but that is due to its economy. It actually contributes a significantly lower percentage than the norms in the 'developed' world. The UN target is set at 0.7% GNI (gross national income), with the US typically giving around 0.2%. In another comparison, in 2023, Norwegians gave the equivalent of $1,160 per person in foreign aid — more than twice the amount contributed by people in other large Western countries. By comparison, people in countries like the United States and Japan gave much less, at $190 and $155 per person, respectively.

This isn't just a cost-saving measure - keep your eyes peeled for what he's about to do internally. He's already using Elon Musk to dismantle the CIA and the Department of Education not to mention other agencies. This is a coup.

It is rather worrying that the will of Congress can be overturned by Executive Order

It was set up by one in the first place, @InveterateWineDrinker (by JFK to be precise) and history teaches that all such organisations are ripe for corruption, which is exactly what's happened with USAID

There's no reason why aid can't continue to be provided, but by State and hopefully under a better regulated regime - though there's every chance that too will become corrupted in time

Sure it was set up by EO, but its programmes and ongoing funding are Congressional mandates.

Agree with BaleOfHay - this is a coup.

It's quite amazing how many people just state with absolute confidence that USAID is corrupt without a single source other than statements, with no evidence, made by Elon Musk and the White House.

The US voted for Trump so now they get to experience life under Trump (who, for all his manifest faults, never hid who and what he stands for).

If they're lucky, in 4 years they'll have a chance to elect someone else.

This is a very facile analysis. No one really knows whether or not it's that case that it can be undone by EO, since there is already congressionally approved funding. According to our system of checks and balances, a president doesn't just get to overrule that. A new administration can certainly change the target/aim of an organisation with new congressionally approved funding, or choose not to re-up it when the allocated funds have been used, but it's unclear whether what they have done now is legal. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Cutting USAID just screwed America's farmers

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/06/trump-usaid-money-american-farms/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzM4ODE4MDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzQwMjAwMzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3Mzg4MTgwMDAsImp0aSI6IjYwZGFiZDMzLWE4M2YtNGUyNS04ODc0LTdlNmQ1MTRjZjQyZCIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDI1LzAyLzA2L3RydW1wLXVzYWlkLW1vbmV5LWFtZXJpY2FuLWZhcm1zLyJ9.IzZA6sOcleD0rgo0U0wUkl9lwBWO80i7ZXuywtWQkaM

USAID oversees projects such as food aid, disaster relief and health programs in over 100 countries with a staff of more than* *10,000 and a budget of around $40 billion. Billions of those dollars flowed back into the American economy until President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day freeze on foreign-aid spending last month.

Now U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo. That includes American farms, which supply about 41 percent of the food aid that the agency, working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sends around the world each year, according to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service. In 2020, the U.S. government bought $2.1 billion in food aid from American farmers.

Hah. I just came here to post the exact same link.

It's amazing how many people don't understand how much aid money actually supports industries in the country giving the aid. Like how much Ukraine aid money actually pumps right back into propping up the American defence contractors (not that they're my favourite industry).

I would guess they have some administration source and just aren't bothering to fact check. Truthfully, I don't know how big their staff is or what their process is, but it's almost impossible to check the barrage of information right now (although that one should be pretty easy). Unfortunately, that's exactly how something can get out there as 'fact' when it's a nugget of truth that's been manipulated.

And now that it's owned by the GB News guy (I think?) I would guess they prize other things over accuracy.

As @Sunseaandgreys says I think we were all expecting a realignment of policy, but the abrupt stop of US funding has catastrophic affects. Huge HIV programmes have been halted with people no longer having access to antiretrovirals. I know of several research institutions and charities in low income countries that will go the the wall. Another larger very well regarded research institution has had to lay off 1000 workers. Clinical trials have been stopped.

And for those taking the information from Trump and Musk at face value, if the $50m on condoms in gaza was true there would be thousands of condoms per person each year.

I think YABU - billions of tax dollars are unaccounted for. BILLIONS.
When people in America can't afford their own prescriptions it must sting to know your tax dollars go to some despot country or some liberal woke "charity" that doesn't do much to help people.

And for those taking the information from Trump and Musk at face value, if the $50m on condoms in gaza was true there would be thousands of condoms per person each year

Was the money spent on condoms in USA which were then sent to Gaza or was the money sent to Palestine with instructions that it was for condoms?

That's an audit and oversight failure, not an argument against aid.