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What is USAID and why is Trump targeting it?

What is USAID and why is Trump targeting it?

Last updated on: February 7, 2025 at 6:25 am by Jim Denison

What is USAID and why is Trump targeting it? 2025-02-07T06:25:53-06:00 Jim Denison

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“For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous—and, in many cases, malicious—pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight.”

That is how President Donald Trump recently described the agency overseeing the vast majority of the government’s humanitarian efforts. Those thoughts have been echoed across numerous press conferences, television appearances, and posts on social media by both Trump and people working closely with him on this issue.

However, given that USAID disbursed somewhere in the neighborhood of $72 billion of assistance in 2023—the last year for which we have concrete numbers—some waste is unavoidable. The more pressing question is to what extent that waste represents the true mission and functionality of the agency. Unfortunately, that’s where things start to get a bit murky.

Before we get too far down that road, though, it’s worth taking a moment to better understand what USAID was founded to do so we can then discern the degree to which that purpose is both necessary and relevant today.

What is USAID?

USAID was started by President John F. Kennedy as an independent agency tasked with countering Soviet influence abroad by granting aid to the nations most likely to join the communist cause. Its independence was intended to help it circumvent the bureaucracy that plagued the State Department at that time. Congress made the agency official when it passed the Foreign Assistance Act in 1961.

USAID attempted to build security by fostering dependency through a number of truly worthy endeavors—such as its work combatting global hunger, AIDS, malaria, and a host of other problems. However, its history also includes a number of acts of which we should be less proud.

In other words, it falls right in line with most government programs in that it is plagued by corruption while still serving an important purpose.

A big part of the problem is that USAID does not directly fund or manage many of these humanitarian efforts. Instead, as Ari Weitzman describes, it “takes taxpayer dollars and gives them to an independent organization that decides what it wants to focus on, then distributes those dollars to other third-party organizations” (emphasis his).

The result is a massive budget that has proven difficult to track and even more difficult to hold accountable for how those dollars are spent. And while those funds represent less than 1 percent of the federal budget, it’s still the most of any country and nearly double what the European Union spends on humanitarian aid. As such, what the president and the rest of the government decide to do with the agency will have massive repercussions around the world.

Unfortunately, unpredictability is a hallmark of Trump’s governing strategy, so understanding what’s likely to come next is dubious at best. That said, his actions this week—and the response they’ve generated—do provide some clues.

Why it’s not enough for the good to outweigh the bad

Both President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have advocated for USAID losing its independence and becoming absorbed into the State Department. In fact, Trump has already taken steps in that direction, giving Rubio authority over the agency earlier this week.

What is less clear, though, is if he actually has the authority to do that. Many in Congress have claimed otherwise, and this is likely to end in yet another custody battle over who gets final say in USAID’s fate. Regardless of whether or not the agency remains independent, it’s difficult to see anything resembling the status quo being part of the end result.

And whatever you may think of Trump, USAID, or those involved in the investigation, it seems obvious that at least some measure of change is needed.

While some reports of waste—such as claims that USAID funded Politico and other news organizations—have been either fabricated or exaggerated, far too many questionable projects still exist:

$20 million for a new Sesame Street show in Iraq
More than $19 million to promote “inclusion” in Vietnam
$1.5 million to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in Serbia

These are only a few examples that have come to light, and they are far from unique.

Moreover, even the aid that was intended to help those truly in need suffered because of corruption and theft. For example, USAID spent over $12 billion in Syria to help those suffering from the civil war that raged until recently. Yet millions of dollars were stolen and diverted to armed combat groups instead of the refugees.

Similarly, in Afghanistan, USAID spent an estimated $17 billion on efforts that failed to bear much fruit, such as $335 million on an underutilized diesel-fueled power plant, $486 million on planes that seldom—if ever—left the ground, and $106 million on an unused consulate.

Again, some waste and corruption are unavoidable given the scope and scale of USAID’s efforts, and the agency still does many truly great things throughout the world. It’s important not to lose sight of those facts. Yet, just because the good may outweigh the bad does not mean the bad should go unnoticed and unaddressed.

Many disagree with the manner in which President Trump and his people are attempting to solve these problems, and all of us would benefit from taking a step back to evaluate why we hold our opinions on this subject. As I wrote yesterday, stopping to ask the simple question “What if Biden did it?” can be a helpful tool in that regard.

Our opinions of Trump, his policies, and his approach do not change the fact that there are problems within USAID that desperately need to be addressed. And there’s an important lesson in that fact for each of us today.

Is it one fruit or many fruits?

One of the best-known concepts within Christianity is the fruit of the Spirit that Paul describes in Galatians 5: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). However, something that often gets lost in translation is that the “fruit” of which Paul writes is singular rather than plural. In English, we use the same word for both, but the Greek is more specific.

It’s important to understand that when Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit, he’s describing a single, unified concept rather than several individual characteristics because, for most of us, some of these qualities come more naturally than others. As such, it’s often tempting to think that being faithful and kind can make up for the times when we lack gentleness and self-control. By the same token, having joy and peace in the good times does not make up for a failure to love and be patient when our circumstances grow more difficult.

In short, we can never be good enough at any of these qualities to compensate for a deficiency with others. God expects us to grow in each and to recognize that change is needed when we fail to do so.

Fortunately, Paul is also clear that these are not the fruit of effort or discipline—though both do play an important part. Rather, he calls them the fruit of the Spirit because it is the Holy Spirit who helps them grow in our lives as we walk with the Lord.

So how is your walk with God today? Are there any areas where you’ve failed to heed his conviction or tried to compensate for your sins rather than address them? Take a moment to ask the Lord to help you understand the real answers to those questions, then respond accordingly.

Every Christian should exhibit the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that Scripture describes.

Do you?

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