Archive - February 1, 2025

Retired and former USAID and State colleagues, implementing partners, and friends are organizing to protest at the Capitol on Wednesday, February 5, at 11:30 am. We will meet behind the Capitol on the sidewalk near the visitor’s entrance. We want to highlight the devastating impact of the administration’s actions on aid recipients and of Congress relinquishing their responsibilities and power to Trump, as well as the damage of the psychological warfare being inflicted on Federal employees. Related reading: Meeks, Shaheen, Frankel, Schatz Demand Immediate Action to Address Trump Administration Efforts to Undermine American Soft Power, press release from the House Foreign Affairs Committee | January 31, 2025. The Path Forward: A Letter to My Constituents, by Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-8) | February 1, 2025.

I lost my job on Tuesday. Along with almost 400 talented and committed people who have dedicated their lives to improving the lives and health of people around the world. But this is not about my job. My job is a drop in an immense bucket of suffering that the halt on foreign aid is causing, with cascading impacts beyond what I can describe. There is much out there about the scale of these impacts, so I want to focus on my own experience of these last days and the impact on my specific work. On day 1 of the new administration, one of the executive orders was a halt of obligations, or funding currently with USAID (US Agency for International Development) going to projects. I was worried about this (along with orders about return to the office, since as someone who relocated to be nearer to our families, I . . .

Editor’s note: We interrupt our usual programming to share the following message, which is being circulated in the international development community related to the abrupt suspension of U.S. foreign assistance—a move which will ultimately make our country less safe, secure, and prosperous: Please call your Members of Congress hourly and say the following: “The administration must lift the foreign assistance stop work order before it’s too late. In 90 days no implementing partner will exist to restart any foreign assistance activities. Mass layoffs are happening and 173 U.S. small businesses are folding. The USG is not paying its bills. USAID contractors are owed hundreds of millions for work performed in November and December before the stop work order went into effect. This is illegal per the prompt payment act. The stop work order prevents American businesses on contract with the USG to get reimbursed for ANY costs it incurs until . . .