The website of the US Agency for International Development went offline without explanation on Saturday as thousands of furloughs, lay-offs and programme shutdowns continued in President Donald Trump’s freeze on US-funded foreign aid
Congressional Democrats battled the Trump administration increasingly openly, expressing concern the president may be headed toward ending USAID as an independent agency and absorbing it into the State Department.
Democrats say Mr Trump has no legal authority to eliminate a congressionally funded independent agency and that the work of USAID is vital to national security.
Mr Trump and congressional Republicans say much of foreign aid and development programmes are wasteful, singling out ones they say can advance liberal social agendas.
The fear of even tougher administration action against USAID comes two weeks into the administration’s shutdown of billions of dollars of the United States humanitarian, development and security assistance.
The US is the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid but it spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign assistance, a smaller share overall than some other countries.
Administration officials had no comment on Saturday when asked about concerns expressed by lawmakers and others that Mr Trump may be planning to end USAID’s separate status.
President John F Kennedy created the organisation at the height of the Cold War to counter Soviet influence. USAID today is at the centre of US challenges to the growing influence of China, which has a successful foreign aid program of its own.
Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act in 1961, and Mr Kennedy signed that law and an executive order establishing USAID as an independent agency.
USAID staffers spent Friday and Saturday in chat groups monitoring its fate, giving updates on whether the agency’s flag and signs were still up outside agency headquarters in Washington.
In a post on X, Democratic senator Chris Murphy said presidents cannot eliminate congressionally appropriated federal agencies by executive order, and said Trump was poised to “double down on a constitutional crisis.”
“That’s what a despot — who wants to steal the taxpayers’ money to enrich his billionaire cabal — does,” Mr Murphy said.
Hearing that Trump is about to double down on the constitutional crisis. A President cannot eliminate an appropriated federal agency by executive order. That’s what a despot – who wants to steal the taxpayers money to enrich his billionaire cabal – does.
Watch USAID tonight.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 31, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk, advising Mr Trump in a campaign to whittle down the federal government in the name of efficiency, endorsed posts on his X site calling for dissolving USAID.
“Live by executive order, die by executive order,” Mr Musk tweeted in reference to USAID.
Mr Trump placed an unprecedented 90-day freeze on foreign assistance on his first day in office January 20.
The order, a tougher-than-expected interpretation of Mr Trump’s freeze order on January 24 drafted by Peter Marocco, a returning political appointee from Mr Trump’s first term, shut down thousands of programmes around the world and forced the furloughs or lay-offs of many thousands.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since moved to keep more kinds of strictly life-saving emergency programmes going during the freeze.
Aid groups say confusion surrounding what programs are still allowed to operate is contributing to paralysis in global aid organisations.
Mr Rubio, in his first public comments on the matter, said on Thursday that USAID’s programs were being reviewed to eliminate any that are not in the U.S. national interest, but he said nothing about eliminating it as an agency.
The shutdown of US-funded programs during the 90-day review meant the US was “getting a lot more cooperation” from recipients of humanitarian, development and security assistance, Mr Rubio said.
Republicans and Democrats long have fought over the agency, arguing whether humanitarian and development aid protects the US by helping stabilise partner countries and economies or is a waste of money.
Republicans typically push to give the state more control of USAID’s policy and funds. Democrats typically build USAID autonomy and authority.
A version of that battle played out in Mr Trump’s first term when he tried to cut the budget for foreign operations by a third.
When Congress refused, the Trump administration used freezes and other tactics to cut the flow of funds already appropriated by Congress for foreign programs.
The General Accounting Office later ruled that it violated a law known as the Impoundment Control Act.
