Primer: USAID
President Trump has dismantled USAID by freezing its funding and putting its top administrators on leave. The blanket freeze of congressionally appropriated aid is probably illegal, and judges have ordered the administration to allow funds to flow again. Programs across the world are nevertheless in jeopardy, while some are praising Trump for committing to his America First ideology. This brings us to this week’s resolution: USAID should be upheld.
USAID supports humanity and American national interests across the globe. It was created in order to streamline foreign assistance for groups that we support across the globe, and these groups help in all sorts of ways. They deliver vaccines to Africa, saving lives. They support groups that counter terrorism in the Middle East. They build infrastructure to make communities more resilient to climate disasters, which often give extremists recruitment opportunities. They help make agriculture more resilient over time, so that the world can grow more food. These missions are good for humanity, first of all. But they also help minimize the danger in our world and push back against groups that hate our country and what we represent. And if we turn away from projects like these, then many countries may fall to Chinese or Russian spheres of influence. The world will be more dangerous and more averse to US interests if we shut down USAID. For just roughly 1% of our federal budget, it’s worth upholding USAID.
But the responsibility of the US government is to promote the welfare of its citizens. Spending over $70 billion dollars for people who are not American citizens is irrational, even if there are some tangential benefits. We must handle our budget deficits, and cutting foreign aid is an easy place to start. USAID streamlines foreign assistance, but its autonomy is unchecked and uncontrollable. The goal should be greater transparency, so that we can see where our tax dollars are going and make sure it's truly well-spent. USAID inherently limits this, so foreign aid should run through the State Department. Impoundment may be illegal, but that doesn’t mean we should continue USAID.
Join the Political Union’s debate this Monday at 7pm in Scott Hall 201!
"March 8-12: USAID Funded Samaritan's Purse Continues Post Tsunami Assistance" by US Embassy New Zealand is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.