The Case For USAID

It does us, and others, a world of good

You have seen the videos. In a country overwhelmed by famine, starving children line up to be fed. The food arrives in bags and boxes marked with the American flag and the letters “USAID.” The message — “When you are suffering, America will come through for you.” Now, if Donald Trump gets his way, the helping hand will be pulled away. And America’s message to the starving will be — “We no longer care.”

Spouting exaggerations, and lies, the president and his hatchet man Elon Musk are moving to shut down the US Agency for International Development on the grounds that it is, in Musk’s words “a vipers’ nest” and “evil” and “a criminal organization.” To this, I say, “BS”

With a federal judge temporarily blocking the shutdown, it’s the right moment to defend USAID and to counter the propaganda that has gotten us to this pathetic moment where the US is about to suspend life-saving shipments of food, drugs, and other humanitarian aid. The problem begins with conspiracy theories that portray the agency as a hotbed of Marxism and corruption. The “Marxism” charge is culture war nonsense, that would take 10,000 words to debunk. Are there liberals working for the agency? Of course. Are they Marxists? Gimme a break. Oh ya and there are plenty of conservatives, I know them.

Now what about the corruption? Here the attack on USAID centers on a conspiracy theory that holds that as the agency moves around the world — making friends and boosting America’s image — it acts as a front for American intelligence agencies. This idea, which is promoted by our enemies abroad, is false. As an independent agency, USAID was created in a way that separates it from the rest of the government. To put it bluntly, there is no there, there.

As a member of Congress, I visited USAID programs in many countries including, among others, Pakistan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Egypt. I saw how our aid literally saves lives and builds local economies. I also saw that along the way, USAID fulfills its secondary mission of promoting democracy and free markets. (Do you hear me conservatives? USAID promotes capitalism.) USAID also buys billions of dollars’ worth of wheat, rice, and soybeans from American producers. Musk himself owns a stake in a company that participates in a USAID project.

I am not saying USAID is perfect. I know that once the money leaves American hands some of it can, and too often is, stolen by local officials or diverted to other purposes. In a most notorious case, Afghan poppy farmers, who feed the international drug trade, received help under a USAID agricultural program.

You could scour USAID’s projects and find other examples of waste and other scandals like the poppy-grower debacle. This is true in the case of every bureaucracy and is why it makes sense to consistently audit the agency’s activities which, by the way, is already being done. But if you want to have a special inquiry into USAID, I say, “Bring it on.” If there are ways to make it more efficient, to force greater focus on its mission, to reform its operations, let’s do it.

However, the truth is that Musk and Trump are not interested in reform, reprogramming or efficiency. As head of the new fake Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Musk is feverishly trying to give Trump some budget-cutting trophies that will also throw some red meat at the isolationist and anti-government extremists in his base. They don’t care that the reservoir of goodwill USAID has built around the world will quickly dry up. Nor do they care that the assistance USAID provides will be replaced by contributions from our rivals including China and Russia. America’s retreat will be their gain.

But beyond the geopolitics, there’s a basic moral component for us to consider. If Trump is the devout Christian he claims to be (LOL), then we must ask why he’s intent on closing the one agency devoted to the world’s poor. The Bible is full of verses that say we must “help the weak” share our bread “with the poor” and that it is “more blessed to give than to receive.” Nothing in Scripture says our giving must be perfect, or bound by ideology. We are told, instead, that it is our duty to give. Trump needs to read his Bible. I’m sure “two Corinthians” has something.