Many U.S. lawmakers remain in the dark about the administration’s plans regarding the foreign assistance review, the future of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the details surrounding the terminations of the majority of USAID’s programs, according to several recent letters.
Letters sent by House and Senate Democrats request clarification from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Peter Marocco, acting deputy administrator of USAID and director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance. Another letter sent by House Democrats on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform seeks information from seven contractors and NGOs about the impacts of the dismantling of USAID.
“We write to expand our investigation of the Trump Administration’s illegal effort to eliminate the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), freeze the distribution of federal foreign assistance, and disrupt USAID programs in approximately 130 countries,” wrote Reps. Gerald Connolly and Suhas Subramanyam, both from Virginia, in letters addressed to CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Chemonics International, Mercy Corps, Plan International, Save the Children, and Tetra Tech.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
