The Trump administration ordered all foreign assistance to stop for 90 days. Following this, it started to work to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the main agency which administers U.S. foreign aid.
What You Can Do
With all the chaos of the Trump administration, we need to keep the critical need to restore foreign aid in the front of the minds of lawmakers and the public. Writing a letter to the editor can make a difference!
A Few Things to Highlight in Your Letter
-
All new administrations have the right to review ongoing programs. However, pausing almost all life-saving humanitarian, peacebuilding, health, and poverty-focused development assistance, will hurt millions of the world’s most vulnerable who rely on these programs for their basic needs. We can’t stop and then pick up again in 90 days and expect nothing to change.
-
While careful and thoughtful reform is needed at USAID, this approach will not lead to more effective, cost-efficient aid that makes the U.S. safer, stronger or more prosperous
The stop-work order will have the opposite impact of the Trump Administration’s stated goal of making the U.S. safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
-
The stop-work order will have the opposite impact of the Trump Administration’s stated goal of making the U.S. safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
-
It will disrupt our most cost-effective tools to keep us safe. The sudden and comprehensive halt to U.S. foreign assistance is interrupting of some of the U.S.’ most cost-effective tools for promoting peace and human security globally, while creating opportunities for bad actors to fill the void left by the United States.
-
It will weaken the U.S. diplomatically. The sudden and comprehensive halt to U.S. foreign assistance risks irreparably damaging our country’s reputation and credibility with other governments as a steadfast partner.
-
It will make us poorer. Foreign aid has been incredibly effective at building trading partners for the U.S. Two thirds of the U.S.’s largest trading partners once received foreign aid, including such close partners as Japan and Germany.
-
-
The Trump administration is taking illegal and unprecedented actions to dismantle USAID. This independent agency has been established, authorized, and appropriated funds by Congress. The independence of USAID is critical to its effectiveness as a humanitarian and economic development assistance agency. Impartiality, neutrality and independence are at the very core of humanitarian aid. These principles allow aid workers to cross battle lines and borders without fear of reprisal by the fighting parties, and build trust with those they serve.
-
Congress must act urgently to protect USAID’s independence and demand this funding freeze end.