Trump’s Best Bet To End USAid

These columns carry no brief for the United States Agency for International Development, which has faced accusations of waste, leftist bias, and worse. Is the rush by President Trump and Elon Musk to shutter the agency putting the cart before the horse, though? After all, this is a legally constituted entity with a $50 billion budget and some 10,000 employees. If Messrs. Trump and Musk want to close the agency, the constitutional route beckons. There’s no lack of criticism of Usaid, where Secretary Rubio has taken over as acting chief. “Time for it to die,” Mr. Musk tweeted on X on Monday, calling it a “criminal organization” that is “beyond repair.” Mr. Trump explained that Usaid has “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out.” Today in remarks at the Oval Office, he brushed aside any need for Congressional input in Usaid’s fate. Few will deny Usaid’s flaws. The agency depicts itself as “the “principal US agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.” Yet it appears Usaid has lately been co-opted by leftist notions. The Heritage Foundation cautions that the aid agency, which is supposed to be nonpartisan, has been misused as “a platform to pursue overseas a divisive political and cultural agenda.”Far from being focused on getting foreign aid where it is needed, Heritage contends, Usaid now “promotes abortion, climate extremism, gender radicalism, and interventions against perceived systemic racism.” Usaid in November touted the millions it has lavished on the Palestinian Arab cause, hailing its “long-standing partnership with the Palestinian people and its dedication to providing essential support during these trying times.”Plus, too, an audit last year raised questions about Usaid’s spending practices. The audit, conducted by an outside accounting firm hired by the Office of Inspector General, found a lack of “proper documentation to support” some of Usaid’s spending and that the agency “does not have a process to monitor” how those expenses are verified. To address these “weaknesses,” the auditors suggested that Usaid “improve internal document control practices.”Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could be looking to address these “weaknesses,” but are they going about it haphazardly? Over the weekend, Bloomberg reports, a team from DOGE conducted a de facto raid on Usaid’s headquarters. The team included what Usaid staffers describe as “DOGE kids,” who are “young men with backgrounds in tech,” Bloomberg said, including a recent intern from Mr. Musk’s Neuralink firm. Chalk this episode up to youthful enthusiasm, perhaps, but, Bloomberg reports, Usaid’s head of employee and labor relations, Nick Gottlieb, described it as “illegal activity,” and Mr. Gottlieb has reportedly been placed on administrative leave. The account underscores the tensions between Usaid and Mr. Trump’s camarilla. It suggests the scale of the shakeup looming for the aid agency, which dates back to 1961. That’s when JFK created Usaid, by executive order. One could well imagine that an agency birthed by presidential fiat could be dispatched by the same means. Yet Congress in 1998, a time when Usaid faced criticism and calls for reform from legislators, ordained the bureau as “a separate statutory agency,” the Congressional Research Service reports. The vehicle was Public Law 105–277, which included the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act.Reform of executive branch agencies is all well and good, and it could well prove that Usaid needs a thorough overhaul or dismantling. Good luck to Mr. Rubio in that. Closing down the agency, though, would appear to require a vote by the Congress that birthed it in 1998. On this head, Mr. Trump will want to keep in mind the oath he swore on January 20 and his constitutional obligation to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

Trump’s Best Bet To End USAid

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