The Unexpected USAID Battle

Dictatorship! Constitutional Crisis! Or just no big deal?

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While most of the steps that Donald Trump has taken in his first weeks in office were telegraphed throughout the 2024 campaign and even earlier, the battle over USAID isn’t one of them. But it’s one that quickly pulled Democrats together, because there’s nothing they like more than maintaining their right to spend your hard-earned taxpayer dollars on some of the stupidest projects in the world.

Here’s Punchbowl on why the fight suits both sides of our current politics:

For President Donald Trump and Hill Republicans, the agency is a clear example of a sprawling federal bureaucracy run amok. As GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt (Texas) pointed out on X Monday, USAID spent $20 million to produce Ahlan Simsim Iraq, an Arabic-language version of Sesame Street, gave the Jordanians $100 million to build schools, funneled $11 million to Vietnam as part of an environmental protection program and spent $27 million for reintegration gift bags for deportees.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also mocked some of USAID’s outlays on Monday, including “$70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender opera in Peru.”

For Democrats, Trump’s decision to fold USAID into the State Department isn’t only about the life-saving mission of the foreign aid agency but rather an example of a burgeoning plutocracy with no guardrails. They see Trump’s attacks on a myriad of small agencies — USAID, EEOC, and NLRB — as well as larger ones — the FBI, Justice Department and possibly the Department of Education — as part of his push to create an imperial presidency unchecked by Congress.

Mega billionaire Elon Musk — a “special government employee” — has been tasked with beginning to wind down USAID, dispatching DOGE aides to start dismantling the 10,000-person organization. Senior officials have been put on leave, contractors laid off and humanitarian assistance paused. Musk blasted Democrats for defending USAID, claiming, “the corrupt politicians ‘protesting’ outside the USAID building are the ones getting money from USAID,” which is a bizarre line.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that Trump, Musk and DOGE aren’t interested in the inner workings of USAID. Their ultimate goal, Schumer said, is dismantling the federal government:

“[T]his is just the beginning. If DOGE attacks USAID today, then you can be sure they’ll move on to another target tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be the Postal Service, or the IRS or even the Social Security Administration. They could be next. Or maybe our national security agencies.”

Democrats point to huge potential conflicts of interest for Musk, whose businesses include Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, X and others. Federal contracts for Musk-controlled companies could run into billions of dollars. Democrats have honed in on attempts by DOGE aides to gain access to the federal payments system run by the Treasury Department as particularly worrisome. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are drafting legislation to bar that.

Yet with USAID, DOGE is feasting on low-hanging fruit. There’s nothing that draws as much GOP ire as foreign aid, especially when the U.S. government is saddled with $36 trillion in debt.

That’s why even pro-foreign aid Republicans aren’t complaining:

“The law is very specific that if there’s going to be a reorganization of USAID that Congress has to be informed 15 days in advance and a detailed explanation of any changes has to be provided. All we have received is a very brief letter which we got today. I do not believe that satisfies the requirements of the law,” Collins said on Monday evening.

Collins said the freeze in humanitarian aid funding that the Trump administration has imposed caused “confusion” among nonprofit workers she spoke to over the weekend. She and several Republicans said they back USAID’s mission of aiding developing nations as a bulwark against China.

Yet she also said she supported a review of spending at USAID. And other prominent Republicans said they were open to the maneuver, its disputed constitutionality aside, as long as USAID’s diminishment doesn’t lead to the US abandoning the world stage — the latest sign of Trump’s control over the GOP as he asserts power over the legislative branch.

Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, indicated that he supports the broader mission of foreign aid, saying in a statement that China’s active overseas investment is “threatening opportunities for freedom and democracy around the world. And we’re losing to them in developing nations.”

USAID could be retooled to make “better use of our limited dollars,” Curtis added.

“A lot of the spending that goes on through USAID does not seem to be consistent with US policy. I’m all for a review,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Still, he said it is his understanding that “in order for it to be absorbed into the State Department, it requires congressional action.”

Collins said she would talk to colleagues about next steps, but bipartisan congressional action to preserve USAID may be impossible. Democrats are livid about the agency’s treatment.

More here on what Secretary Rubio’s plans are for folding USAID’s work into State, or at least the ones that the president likes.