“It's not an overhaul. It's a destruction.” Those were the words of Dr. Atul Gawande, former head of global health at USAID, who was among the speakers at a rally in Washington, D.C., that drew thousands to support USAID and denounce U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to relegate it to the dustbin of history.
Also in today’s edition: DFC gets a taste of what USAID’s going through.
+ Join us tomorrow, Feb. 7, for an emergency career webinar on what to do if you’ve lost your USAID job. To help our community think through the next steps, we’ll have a panel of leaders and experts to provide context and answer questions. Register now and submit your questions in advance — it’s free!
Not masking their anger
The face masks were ubiquitous — a jarring reminder of COVID-19 days. But people weren’t trying to avoid spreading germs or warding off the chilly air.
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Rallygoers at the protest in Washington, D.C., against the “illegal shutdown of USAID and global freeze of life-saving aid” had heard rumors that facial recognition software could be used to identify them on social media and slap them on federal employment blacklists.
Has it really gotten that bad?
Yes, according to people I spoke with, many of whom had been unceremoniously kicked out of USAID after years, or decades, of working there — part of a lightning-fast purge that has seen most of the agency’s workforce placed on leave, furloughed, or fired.
They described a dystopian future where billionaire Elon Musk hijacks control of the U.S. government, with the dismantling of USAID serving as a test case for the obliteration of other agencies. From my perch, I wasn’t sure if the chants of “lock him up” were directed at Musk, Trump, or both, but the anger was palpable — not just from protesters but from the dozens of speakers standing in front of the U.S. Capitol, including various Democratic lawmakers.
“You can’t pause an airplane and fire the crew in midflight, but that’s what an oligarch with unchecked power is doing with lifesaving foreign assistance programs,” Gawande said. “This is demolishing U.S. standing, our world-leading capacity and expertise, and a key pillar of our national security.”
But among the supportive chants were pleas of: “What’s the plan? What’s the plan?”
Sen. Cory Booker said Democrats would support putting a “blanket hold” on Trump’s U.S. State Department nominees, my colleague Elissa Miolene writes. “We will fight legally, we will fight procedurally, and we will also fight legislatively,” Booker declared.
Meanwhile, Sen. Tim Kaine said members of the U.S. Congress were pushing five lawsuits forward, one of which focused on protecting federal workers, including those at USAID. And Rep. Sara Jacobs said she would introduce legislation this week to “push back on Elon Musk’s illegal takeover” of USAID.
“Let’s be clear. This is illegal and it is a coup,” Jacobs told the crowd. “But joke’s on them, because who knows better how to work in an authoritarian country than all of you?”
Read: Thousands gather in Washington to protest the dismantling of USAID
You hate to DFC it
The evisceration of USAID does seem to be a precursor of what might happen to other agencies — even those assumed to fall squarely within Trump’s “America First” purview. That apparently includes the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, which Trump once mused could serve as a sort of sovereign wealth fund for the country.
But yesterday, staff members at DFC were informed that all probationary employees would be terminated shortly and that other staff reductions are also expected, according to sources and audio of a staff meeting obtained by my colleague Adva Saldinger.
DFC, established during Trump’s first term, finances private-sector development and was believed to be a rare development darling in the current administration. Last Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was nominating Benjamin Black, the managing partner of investment fund Fortinbras Enterprises, to be the CEO of DFC.
But DFC has seen a hiring boom amid rapid expansion, which could make it a prime target for cuts despite its bipartisan backing and business-friendly approach. While not as extreme as the USAID cuts (presumably), we’re seeing a similar modus operandi play out at DFC — in the form of vague guidance.
Supervisors were not given a list of who would be let go, so they were left scrambling to figure out who on their teams would be out of a job, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
Scoop: Staff cuts coming to DFC
+ As Trump puts U.S. aid on pause, disrupting global development funding, can other sources or forms of financing fill the void? Join us and a panel of experts on Monday, Feb. 10, to discuss the role of multilateral development banks and development finance institutions at this critical moment. Save your spot now.
Making the first move
Add those supervisors to the list of people scrambling for answers. We’re doing our best to provide them, with our latest Devex Pro briefing tackling a slew of questions, many of them echoing the same theme: What can be done?
Lawsuits are one obvious answer, although so far action has been tepid. Panelists pointed out that many organizations are too scared to be the first to stick their necks out, fearful of alienating the Trump administration and ruining chances of obtaining a waiver to the foreign aid freeze.
But Patrick Fine of the Brookings Institution said someone has to make the first move.
“This caution that organizations are feeling of, ‘Well, we don't want to be out front because then we'll become persona non grata,’ is misplaced at this point,” he said. “If somebody's got a knife to your throat, you've got to start fighting back, or you just give up.”
He also urged Congress to fight back, although whether they do so remains one of many open questions.
“At what point does Congress, not just the Democratic members, but the Republican members, recognize this is not in the interests of the United States?” he asked. “This is harming our foreign policy. When will Secretary Rubio see that this weakens his position rather than strengthening it?”
Read: As Trump upends USAID, what can be done? (Pro)
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Late-night Power
It’s not just Democratic lawmakers trying to get the word out about what’s happening inside USAID. The agency’s most recent administrator, Samantha Power, took the message to a national audience, joining Stephen Colbert for “The Late Show” — where the comedian called USAID “one of the first victims Elon Musk has decided to sacrifice to the ever-ravenous gods of chaos.”
Power said that while the current situation is confusing in some respects, “the core fact is programs that were running that people were depending on … all of those programs are shuttered … no matter the human consequences,” she said, citing the ready-to-use therapeutic foods that USAID provides in places like Sudan that bring children “back from the brink of death.”
She pointed out that while USAID once enjoyed bipartisan support, “now that has been overtaken by so many distortions” — and the people making those distortions took down USAID’s website, “so it’s not even possible for people to fact-check against this misinformation.”
Another challenge? The recipients of foreign aid aren’t congressional constituents.
“The kids at those vaccination clinics, those girls who are in school because of USAID, they don’t vote in our elections. They don’t have the numbers of Congress people. They don't have that ability to use that lever. So it's really up to the rest of us to make that case.”
+ Explore our dedicated page for all the latest news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive insights on how the Trump administration’s policies are reshaping global development.
WHO will step up?
There’s only so much a Democratic minority can do in Congress. Lawsuits seem ways off. The next logical answers? Convince others to step up and plug the financial gap.
But the World Health Organization — which lost its biggest contributor when Trump pulled the United States out of WHO — is sensing hesitancy to pick the tab up.
WHO member states approved an initial 20% increase in member dues in 2023, my colleague Jenny Lei Ravelo writes. Now, it’s proposing another 20% increase of $229.6 million for 2026-2027.
The reaction among some member states? Nah-uh.
Argentinian President Javier Milei said yesterday that his country will withdraw from WHO altogether over allegations of political influence and “deep differences” on how to manage public health. Meanwhile, China — WHO’s second largest contributor of assessed contributions after the U.S. — sought clarity on what a 20% increase entails for them, as the country is also supposed to increase its U.N. budget contributions from 15% in 2024 to 20% in 2025.
“It is difficult for any country to agree to such a plan under such opacity,” China’s representative said.
Read: The Trump effect? Argentina says it will withdraw from WHO too
Read: WHO pleads for 20% funding increase as some countries push back
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In other news
The U.S. has canceled $4 billion in pledges to the Green Climate Fund, the first time any country has done such a thing. [Politico]
More than 100 children under the age of 5 in East Asia and the Pacific die daily due to air pollution, according to UNICEF findings. [Bloomberg]
Israel, a nonmember, will follow the lead of fellow nonmember the United States and cease participation in the United Nations Human Rights Council. [Times of Israel]
The Bezos Earth Fund has ended its support for the Science Based Targets initiative, the world’s leading voluntary climate standard setter. [Financial Times]
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About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
