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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To highlight what is happening to US Foreign Aid?

133 replies

Locutus2000 · 04/02/2025 16:04

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.

Rubio says he’s acting director of USAID as humanitarian agency is taken over by the State Department | CNN Politics

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that he is acting administrator the US Agency for International Development, confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/03/politics/usaid-washington-workers/index.html

OP posts:
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maudelovesharold · 07/02/2025 18:35

Why on earth are you posting on AIBU about this? If you want to obsess about the politics of another country that you have no ability to influence, do it on the Politics forum.

We may have no ability to influence US policy directly, but we are in a position to demand that our own government rebut, in the strongest possible terms, Trump’s most extreme and damaging proposals, at least. We need to know what he is up to. Ignorance is not bliss. The op is welcome to post wherever they need to in order to raise people’s awareness, as far as I’m concerned.

snugsnug1 · 07/02/2025 18:36

Andante57 · 07/02/2025 17:59

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?

Neither. It didn't happen. This is a pretty good breakdown.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/30/is-the-us-sending-50m-in-condoms-to-gaza-as-trump-claims

Is the US sending $50m in condoms to Gaza as Trump claims?

The US president has listed the stopping of condoms to Gaza as an accomplishment. But is he thinking of the wrong Gaza?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/30/is-the-us-sending-50m-in-condoms-to-gaza-as-trump-claims

Andante57 · 07/02/2025 18:39

@snugsnug1
Thank you for that. It seems difficult these days to separate truth from fiction.

gloriagloria · 07/02/2025 18:58

Neither - no money was ever spent on money for condoms in Gaza.
Fact Check: No evidence US spent $50 million on condoms for Gaza | Reuters

HermioneWeasley · 07/02/2025 19:43

i Think it’s deeply unfortunate that a lack of oversight has allowed poor funding choices (eg: Guatemalan transgender opera) which have made the whole USAID budget an easy target. I wish they’d been more careful.

Americans are feeling the pinch and optically “giving away” $40bn was going to be hard to justify. Those who support it created an own goal.

snugsnug1 · 07/02/2025 23:42

HermioneWeasley · 07/02/2025 19:43

i Think it’s deeply unfortunate that a lack of oversight has allowed poor funding choices (eg: Guatemalan transgender opera) which have made the whole USAID budget an easy target. I wish they’d been more careful.

Americans are feeling the pinch and optically “giving away” $40bn was going to be hard to justify. Those who support it created an own goal.

What a simplistic way to think.

For a start

USAID returns roughly $7 for every $1 spent
American agriculture earns $2billion a year from crops sold to USAID
Illnesses such as Ebola, Monkeypox and AIDS/HIV are contained and prevented from mutating by USAID programs

Motomum23 · 08/02/2025 08:48

snugsnug1 · 07/02/2025 23:42

What a simplistic way to think.

For a start

USAID returns roughly $7 for every $1 spent
American agriculture earns $2billion a year from crops sold to USAID
Illnesses such as Ebola, Monkeypox and AIDS/HIV are contained and prevented from mutating by USAID programs

There is also some evidence that USAID dollars were sent to tue Wuhan Institute to fund gain of function research into coronaviruses.... so if they are containing aids/monkey pox with one hand they are most certainly taking away any sort of good with the other.

Ablondiebutagoody · 08/02/2025 09:03

DuncinToffee · 06/02/2025 16:17

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.

And that's how the aid industry gets so entrenched. So many noses in the trough. Why should taxpayers be funding that?

snugsnug1 · 08/02/2025 09:57

Motomum23 · 08/02/2025 08:48

There is also some evidence that USAID dollars were sent to tue Wuhan Institute to fund gain of function research into coronaviruses.... so if they are containing aids/monkey pox with one hand they are most certainly taking away any sort of good with the other.

There is no 'evidence' of that. People saying it, mostly on X, does not make it evidence.

blacksonofsaturn · 08/02/2025 10:44

Al-Jazeera 🙄About as reliable as using an article from The Sun.

DuncinToffee · 08/02/2025 10:58

Ablondiebutagoody · 08/02/2025 09:03

And that's how the aid industry gets so entrenched. So many noses in the trough. Why should taxpayers be funding that?

Edited

Increased trade and investment opportunities for US farmers for example?

gloriagloria · 08/02/2025 11:06

The us aid system is highly problematic on both ethical and efficiency grounds but they have a lot of excellent programmes running which people depend on for health education and livelihoods. The abrupt cessation of all funding is catastrophic. Countries cannot divert scarecrow resist short notice. A review of how money could better be spent over a longer period would be entirely appropriate but this isn’t.

snugsnug1 · 08/02/2025 11:16

blacksonofsaturn · 08/02/2025 10:44

Al-Jazeera 🙄About as reliable as using an article from The Sun.

I'm actually pretty careful about that. Al Jazeera is a mixed bag as their editorial content is overly favourable to Quatar, and everything in that article is readily available from other sources. I used it only because it pulled the information together in one article.

So, 🙄back at you.

snugsnug1 · 08/02/2025 11:20

gloriagloria · 08/02/2025 11:06

The us aid system is highly problematic on both ethical and efficiency grounds but they have a lot of excellent programmes running which people depend on for health education and livelihoods. The abrupt cessation of all funding is catastrophic. Countries cannot divert scarecrow resist short notice. A review of how money could better be spent over a longer period would be entirely appropriate but this isn’t.

Yes, also adding that it's perfectly within the rights of a new administration to rejig the aims and programs of aid to align with its goals and policy, which is what traditionally happens. What is not within their rights is to stop congressionally allocated funding and to terminate staff without due process.

DuncinToffee · 08/02/2025 12:22

A judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from placing 2,200 workers at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave, hours before it was due to happen.

Judge Carl Nichols issued a "limited" temporary restraining order,, external in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions trying to save the agency.
The order will remain in place for a week, until 14 February at midnight.

Trump has argued that USAID, the overseas aid agency, is not a valuable use of taxpayer money and wants to dismantle it - with plans to put nearly all of the agency's 10,000 employees on leave, except 611 workers.

Some 500 staff had already been put on administrative leave and another 2,200 were due to join them from midnight on Friday (05:00 GMT).

But the last-minute lawsuit on Friday argued the government was violating the US Constitution, and also that the workers were suffering harm.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdd9p8g405no

CorduroySituation · 08/02/2025 12:42

Sunseaandgreys · 04/02/2025 18:02

I’m with you OP, I work in Humanitarian aid in a conflict country that has (had) USAID funding (thankfully we don’t rely on it only) and it’s an absolute nightmare.

I think what people not in the sector don’t realise is the shocking lack of processes and systems. Billions in aid immediately being frozen, means in developing and conflict countries hospitals stop functioning, food and hygiene distributions stop, cash support to vulnerable people, livelihoods activities, water points, everything stops over night with no exit plan in place.

I’m all for ensuring audits are in place (and our USAID audits are extensive!) and that funds are used correctly but this lack of preparation is crazy not to mention all the incorrect information coming from the administration themselves.

As MSF has said - thousands of people are going to die.

I agree. As usual it's the innocent poor that will suffer the most - the children that will starve, the women that won't be able to get of horrific situations - not the country leaders siphoning off millions to their own accounts.

The world and the systems are never perfect but removing all aid instantly is horrific and cruel to those who rely on it. But then, they don't have any power and influence or anything "useful" in the eyes of the elite , so who cares about them, certainly not Trump or Elon.

OP posts:
Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/02/2025 12:53

snugsnug1 · 08/02/2025 11:20

Yes, also adding that it's perfectly within the rights of a new administration to rejig the aims and programs of aid to align with its goals and policy, which is what traditionally happens. What is not within their rights is to stop congressionally allocated funding and to terminate staff without due process.

And that's why it would have been better to have an alternative in place (if there's going to be one) before going in all guns blazing on the current agency

That said it's not as if people weren't aware of what they were voting for with Trump, and whether we like it or not rowing back on "shelling out millions to foreigners" will appeal to many - especially when too many have a habit of holding out one hand to America for money and flicking the Vs at them with the other

snugsnug1 · 08/02/2025 13:02

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/02/2025 12:53

And that's why it would have been better to have an alternative in place (if there's going to be one) before going in all guns blazing on the current agency

That said it's not as if people weren't aware of what they were voting for with Trump, and whether we like it or not rowing back on "shelling out millions to foreigners" will appeal to many - especially when too many have a habit of holding out one hand to America for money and flicking the Vs at them with the other

And that's why it would have been better to have an alternative in place (if there's going to be one) before going in all guns blazing on the current agency

Well, policy, as opposed to grandiose promises, has never really mattered to Trump or his voters, so not exactly surprising that they went in with nothing more than the kill switch.

They've been a bit slower to produce the beautiful health care plan he had 'concepts of'. A shame the fans are too busy being agitated about money going to keep kids from dying and black people and women being given a fair shake to ask about that.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/02/2025 13:08

Well, policy, as opposed to grandiose promises, has never really mattered to Trump or his voters, so not exactly surprising that they went in with nothing more than the kill switch

Exactly, @snugsnug1, and that's why I said they knew perfectly well what they were voting for - or at least they did if they were paying attention

But enough did vote for him to make him President and here we are, and whether it suits us or not there'll certainly be many who thoroughly agree with what he's doing

snugsnug1 · 08/02/2025 13:27

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/02/2025 13:08

Well, policy, as opposed to grandiose promises, has never really mattered to Trump or his voters, so not exactly surprising that they went in with nothing more than the kill switch

Exactly, @snugsnug1, and that's why I said they knew perfectly well what they were voting for - or at least they did if they were paying attention

But enough did vote for him to make him President and here we are, and whether it suits us or not there'll certainly be many who thoroughly agree with what he's doing

Agreed. Although I do wonder how many really knew what they were voting for? Some did, for certain. But I was reading something the other day about how a lot of local news stations (probably owned by Sinclair) weren't covering any of what's happening re Musk and the data. I'm guessing Fox isn't either. X is certainly spinning whatever's happening. I'd guess a surprising number of people aren't well informed on what's happening.

Locutus2000 · 08/02/2025 14:59

snugsnug1 · 08/02/2025 13:27

Agreed. Although I do wonder how many really knew what they were voting for? Some did, for certain. But I was reading something the other day about how a lot of local news stations (probably owned by Sinclair) weren't covering any of what's happening re Musk and the data. I'm guessing Fox isn't either. X is certainly spinning whatever's happening. I'd guess a surprising number of people aren't well informed on what's happening.

2025 is starting to feel like an episode of Black Mirror.

OP posts:
Goldenbear · 08/02/2025 15:30

Justcallmebebes · 04/02/2025 16:49

I think this is a good thing and the UK should do the same. Far too much money is wasted in foreign aid with no transparency or accountability.

I'm not against foreign aid per se, but millions of dollars are squandered and it's a massive gravy train

There's a strategic as well as humanitarian reason for that involvement, which you are obviously unaware of.

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