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The Trump administration’s plan to reorganize the US Agency for International Development as a part of the State Department blindsided Congress on Monday. Even the rattled Republicans who defended the agency, though, offered muted pushback.
By the time the administration confirmed its plans to hobble the foreign aid agency and put it under State, outlined Monday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, USAID employees were already locked out of their office. The speed with which Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency moved to undercut USAID irked some Republicans who oversee the multi-billion-dollar agency — but none indicated they would join Democrats’ protests in response.
The sharpest Republican critic, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, said the administration did not follow the law in informing Congress ahead of time.
“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.
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On Monday evening, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats quickly convened a meeting to discuss USAID. Earlier, a group of House and Senate Democrats protested the moves outside of USAID’s Washington office on Monday afternoon, then walked in to request access before being asked to leave.
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said he would put a “blanket hold” on all State nominees until the administration backed down on USAID, which would hinder but not stop the president’s picks. After the rally, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen told Semafor that he was “having big second thoughts” about supporting Rubio’s nomination; he urged the secretary and former Foreign Relations member to “stand up” for the people that do difficult work overseas.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., charged his Democratic colleagues with playing politics, arguing that “if it were Joe Biden doing it, they’d have a different answer.”
“There’s a role” for foreign aid, he told Semafor. “But it needs to advance our policies and our objectives.”
Importantly, while many conservatives and Trump allies celebrated calls by Musk to end the agency altogether, even the outright elimination of USAID would barely make a dent in the drastic government spending cuts that the DOGE chief is pursuing.
And many Republicans still believe in the value of foreign aid to further diplomatic objectives, so Rubio may face sharper questions about his plans for the agency going forward.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee, told Semafor that he’s “supportive of the efforts to have oversight on USAID spending by the administration.”
Notable
- Trump advisers are looking at how to dismantle the Education Department, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- Rubio is the acting director of USAID, according to CNN.
Dave Weigel contributed to this report.