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To save what’s left of U.S. foreign aid, supporters need to think like Republicans — or at least adopt a Republicans-first-and-only approach.
Also in today’s edition: U.S. President Donald Trump’s rescissions package finally clears Congress. Plus, how much water does AI consume? And a new health initiative by the Asian Development Bank.
+ This Monday, July 21, at 10 a.m. ET (4 p.m. CET), we’ll be hosting a live conversation with food and U.S. aid experts on what’s left of U.S. food and agricultural aid under the Trump administration. Do you work in food systems and want to learn more about a world with much less U.S. foreign aid? This session is for you and your team. Register here.
New strategy, old tensions
If foreign aid is going to survive, it needs a new playbook — one that starts with Republicans.
“Republican-only first,” said development expert Daniel Runde, describing what it will take to salvage U.S. foreign assistance in the Trump era. In today’s “America First” climate, Runde argued, it’s no use rallying usual supporters. “We're going to need to have members of Congress who aren’t looking to cross President Trump, but to agree with President Trump.”
Speaking at a Capitol Hill event hosted by the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, Runde laid out a strategy: Get reform-minded Republican lawmakers and staffers on board first, then pull in the administration, and finally, Democrats. He sees this shift as historic — a mirror image of how USAID was born in 1961 as a center-left project with “a touch of anti-communism.” The 2026 version? “A center-right project with a touch of humanitarianism.”
MFAN is trying to meet the moment with a bipartisan refresh of U.S. foreign aid, just as the merger of USAID into the State Department picks up speed. Their recommendations reflect some of the Trump-era mindset, calling for a “dual mandate” approach — aid that clearly benefits both the U.S. and partner countries.
Jim Richardson, who led the State Department’s foreign assistance office under the first Trump administration, said that means being honest about priorities. “It’s not a charity,” he said. “There's nothing inherently wrong with us advocating on behalf of the American people in exchange for resources.” Runde echoed that broader view of aid as a national security tool — not just food and medicine, but also “undersea cables, minerals, whose vaccine you use … who runs your airport.”
Others on the panel agreed the system was overdue for reform, writes Managing Editor Anna Gawel. CARE’s Ritu Sharma welcomed the “hyperfocus on outcomes,” but said the vision remains vague. “We keep hearing stronger, safer, and more prosperous. That’s super. That's really lovely … [But] you measure that in decades.”
What’s missing, she argued, is a clear path to self-reliance. “It is criminal that we never said that to countries,” she added, blaming aid programs for sometimes enabling poor governance.
Still, not everyone was ready to spin this as progress. “I'm not going to give you a trite ‘let's make lemonade out of lemons’ speech,” said James Kunder, a former deputy administrator of USAID. “I'm still very angry at the way this process [of U.S. aid upheaval] has taken place. It was thuggish, it was brutal, it was unnecessarily insulting.”
Read: How US aid can appeal to ‘America First’ Republicans
Related: The new kings of American soft power (Pro)
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Just the start?
It’s official — Trump’s rescissions package to claw back roughly $9 billion in previously approved funding, most of it foreign aid, is a done deal. Well, almost. The president still has to sign the bill today, but the tough part — getting it through Congress — is over.
At the same time, this may just be the start, my colleague Elissa Miolene reports.
Trump’s budget chief Russell Vought suggested this package is unlikely to be the last time the White House pushes to rescind money that Congress has already allocated.
“[It was a] very historic moment, the return of using rescissions,” said Vought, speaking to reporters yesterday before the House of Representatives passed the bill. “[We’re] getting the muscle memory for that back into the system.”
The Trump administration sent its initial request to lawmakers in late May, and across 22 pages, Vought laid out how the White House wanted Congress to backtrack on $9.4 billion in “wasteful and unnecessary spending” that was “antithetical to American interests.”
That included funding for humanitarian, development, and global health programs, along with support for the United Nations and its agencies.
“$9 billion worth of crap that was in our federal funding that is now being rescinded,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a press briefing yesterday. “This is a good thing for the American people, and the American taxpayer.”
Read: US Congress clears Trump's $9 billion rescissions package
+ Listen: For the latest episode of our podcast series, Elissa joins Devex’s Michael Igoe and Rumbi Chakamba to discuss the recissions package and other top global development stories.
AI water drain
India is going all in on artificial intelligence — but in Bengaluru, that digital future is running into a very physical limit: water. The government is planning 18,000 servers by the year’s end, with global firms such as Lenovo already setting up shop. But data centers are water guzzlers, and Bengaluru, already short on supply, is feeling the strain.
Locals, schools, and clinics are running dry while tech campuses stay cool — and there are still no clear rules on how much water the industry can take, writes Cheena Kapoor for Devex.
“There has been substantial pressure on the already suffering water systems,” says Khushbu Birawat, researcher and curator at Paani.Earth, a nonprofit that works on water and river rights. “People are dependent on water tankers, and are facing floods/drought conditions year on year.”
Each data center can suck up 18,000 gallons of water a day — and Bengaluru has 22 of them, with more planned. “No matter the water situation in Bengaluru, the government makes sure that the tech industry survives,” says Bhargavi S. Rao, a senior fellow at the Environment Support Group, a Bengaluru-based nonprofit. “The local people face the brunt of it.”
Locals are drilling deeper just to find water. Groundwater could be found at up to 200 feet. Now it’s gone, says a resident
“AI may be the future, but our children are the present,” adds Revathi Naik, a teacher in Sarjapur. “If tech companies and the government want to build here, they must take responsibility for the basics.”
Read: Is the race to build AI in developing nations worth the water it takes?
ADB eyes new health push
The Asian Development Bank is cooking up a bold new health initiative — ExCITD, short for Ending Complex and Challenging Infectious and Tropical Diseases — to help wipe out malaria, tuberculosis, dengue, and more across the Asia-Pacific region. The plan? Use concessional loans, grant funding, and a whole lot of partnerships to turn disease elimination into an investment-worthy mission.
“We want to go together … we want to go faster and stronger to achieve these elimination goals,” said Amandeep Singh, ADB senior sector specialist, at the bank’s INSPIRE forum earlier this month.
The effort comes as traditional aid dries up and countries graduate from support from big players such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. ADB’s Dr. Akihito Watabe says the pandemic was a wake-up call — countries realized they need more than just grants to upgrade their health systems.
Experts say the funding gap is massive — $80 billion to $100 billion more is needed to wipe out malaria by 2040. Meanwhile, climate change could cost poorer economies a chunky $20.8 trillion by 2050. And with the U.S. slashing global health grants, the old donor model? “Over and it's not coming back,” says Martin Edlund of Malaria No More.
But there’s hope in blended finance, writes Senior Reporter Jenny Lei Ravelo. “My definition of catalytic capital is grant funding that is not used in isolation, but instead it's leveraged 10x to 20x,” Edlund explains. He sees ExCITD as a chance to bring in country budgets, concessional loans, and even commercial investment — and there’s keen interest from the Global Fund, Gavi, and others.
Now, Edlund is eyeing domestic corporate and philanthropic capital to help kick-start things. “We think domestic corporate and philanthropic capital can help to unlock this spending,” he says, pointing to pilot work underway in Indonesia.
Read: New ADB platform aims to help end malaria, TB, and dengue in Asia-Pacific
+ For more insider reporting on global health, sign up for Devex CheckUp, a free, weekly newsletter.
In other news
Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of three key U.N. agencies in Gaza — the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the human rights agency OHCHR, and the main agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. [The Independent]
El Salvador’s top human rights group Cristosal has shut down its local operations and evacuated staff amid growing threats and a new law targeting foreign-funded NGOs under President Nayib Bukele. [The Guardian]
The Global Environment Facility is rolling out new wildlife conservation bonds across Africa with an investment of $150 million, which it hopes to leverage up to $1.5 billion that will go toward protecting endangered species and ecosystems without adding to national debt. [Reuters]
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
