The Trump administration is dismantling the United States Agency for International Development, raising concerns about leaving thousands of Americans unemployed as well as the threats to global health. At first glance, his claims seem exaggerated but his reasoning for cutting the funding seems plausible.
USAID does provide many benefits to the world, but the agency needs to be more careful with how it uses its budget. Established during President John Kennedy’s administration, USAID serves to provide international development assistance to developing countries by providing basic human needs, resources for economic growth and humanitarian aid.
USAID’s global impact has been tremendous — together with PATH, over 200 million Africans were vaccinated against meningitis A, hundreds of women easily accessed postpartum hemorrhage treatment and 185 million same-day malaria strip tests were purchased and utilized.
Moreover, the U.S. government’s $110 billion investment in the HIV/AIDS response through PEPFAR has saved over 25 million lives and prevented infection for countless more. Without USAID, HIV-positive patients in sub-Saharan Africa would continue to die in their 20s and 30s.
The White House’s position that foreign aid is not a “valuable use of taxpayer money,” is defended by a “waste and abuse” list enumerating projects deemed “malicious” and “ridiculous” such as $1.5 million to a Serbian LGBTQ+ NGO, $70,000 for a DEI concert in Ireland and $6 million to promote tourism in Egypt.
“I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
These claims have been challenged — the Serbian grant was created to leverage DEI and LGBTQ+ job opportunities in workspaces. Interestingly, the Egypt grant made no mention of tourism. In perspective, the funds going towards this ‘waste and abuse’ make up only a minority of USAID’s total budget and USAID alone makes up over 1% of the entire federal budget.
Still, it is worth considering the need for closer inspection into government spending of taxpayer dollars against the objectives of USAID to save lives.
As of January 2025, only 22.3%, or $10.6 billion of USAID’s budget is directed towards health efforts, raising questions about who benefits from the other $40 billion. It turns out that $9 out of every $10 of the USAID budget never leaves the U.S. and many of the beneficiaries are profitable commercial organizations.
Congressional reports as recent as 2024 reveal many complex problems underlying USAID spending and over the years, the Department of Justice has repeatedly reported on fraud schemes surrounding USAID money. In 2024, more than $9 million dollars intended to provide humanitarian aid were instead diverted towards Syrian terrorist organizations. And just a few years earlier, $100 million intended to construct an electric grid in Afghanistan were re-directed to a U.S. company.
In the era of transparency laws and acts such as the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, this should be a reminder that each taxpayer deserves to know how their tax dollars are being spent.
