The Trump administration has, for all intents and purposes, shut down USAID and folded the program into regular State Department operations.
There is considerable misinformation being put out regarding the cuts, and that would now include two former presidents, neither of whom is very fond of President Donald Trump.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have teamed up to send out an excoriating message to and about the Trump administration and its cuts to USAID.
As soon as DOGE announced that USAID was on the chopping block, studies started to pop up all over the place about how damaging this would be to the world.
For instance, NPR published a piece that the cuts could allow 14 million lives to be lost.
James Macinko, a health policy researcher at UCLA and study co-author, stated, "Even if you take the most conservative estimate, these are still really significant in terms of lives lost.”
The problem, however, and as the State Department noted, is that these people have no idea what they are talking about. They are going off the assumption that all programs are going to be cut, and that is not the case. Wasteful and fraudulent spending is out, but there are still billions that will be sent out via the State Department for worthy programs.
This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally announced that USAID, as we knew it, will cease to exist.
He stated, "As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance."
Rubio continued, "Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies -- and which advance American interests -- will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency."
Officials were adamant that the cries of these worthwhile programs being ended were complete and utter nonsense, with one official stating, "We do not foresee a gap operationally."
Leave it to a couple of former presidents to start the fearmongering over the cuts, as Bush and Obama, both of whom have issues with Trump, issued statements regarding the closing of the agency.
Obama called the move a “colossal mistake,” adding in a video to departing workers, "Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world."
Bush added, "You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work — and that is your good heart. Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you."
As I have stated in other reports, there are definitely some great programs in USAID, but the agency was also used as a money funnel for partisan agencies and liberal projects, which is inexcusable. The life-saving work and programs will continue, but the fraud and waste will be gone. Perhaps everyone should actually read about the cuts before they start commenting on them, and I would include our former presidents in that warning.