USAID DISMANTLED
Trump has effectively dismantled USAID, the world’s largest humanitarian aid agency, since taking office.
Founded in 1961 as John F Kennedy sought to leverage aid to win over the developing world in the Cold War, USAID has been incorporated into the State Department after Secretary of State Marco Rubio slashed 85 per cent of its programming.
Rubio welcomed Trump’s latest move as part of “rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse from the US government, saving American workers billions of dollars”.
The vast majority of the new cuts – US$3.2 billion – would be to USAID funding, according to court documents seen by AFP, confirming an earlier report in the New York Post.
Research published in The Lancet journal in June estimated that the previous round of USAID cuts could result in the preventable deaths of more than 14 million vulnerable people worldwide – a third of them small children.
Also targeted by the new cuts was US$838 million for peacekeeping missions.
“This is going to make our budget situation or liquidity situation that much more challenging,” United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a press conference.
Trump, after taking office for the second time in January, launched a sweeping campaign to downsize or dismantle swaths of the US government.
Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but need Democrat support in the Senate to pass new spending laws.
Trump, who is pushing to extend presidential powers, aims to claw back the US$4.9 billion late in the fiscal year so that Congress may not have time to vote before the funding expires next month.
The United States last averted shutdown, with hours to spare, in March.
Shutdowns are rare but disruptive and costly, as everyday functions like food inspections halt, and parks, monuments and federal buildings shut up shop.
Up to 900,000 federal employees can be furloughed, while another million deemed essential – from air traffic controllers to police – work but forego pay until normal service resumes.
