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OneAID Updates

  • oneaidcommunity
  • Mar 10
  • 7 min read

March 10, 2025


A Note from OneAID Community Organizers

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the OneAID Community's website! It will serve as a hub for information sheets and our updates. Our goal is to build it out over the coming weeks to provide additional resources and link to other great work being done across our community.



Key Updates

  • OneAID Community is supporting USGLC’s Week of Action for International Assistance kicking off today! Please join the webinar today, Monday, March 10 at 2:00 pm EST and join us in this effort. More to come throughout the week.

  • A tweet from Secretary Rubio early Monday morning seemed to announce that the Foreign Assistance Review was complete, and 83% of USAID’s programs will formally be cut, but there has been no further official communication, and the legality of such a sweeping cut is still in question.

  • A hearing was set for March 11, for the U.S. African Development Foundation’s (USADF) lawsuit to block DOGE and Pete Marocco’s illegal takeover of the agency. A new lawsuit was also filed by the National Endowment for Democracy.

  • A new Trump Administration memo reportedly calls for large-scale cuts to the Veterans Administration with 80,000 firings potentially impacting services—including the suicide prevention Veterans Crisis Line—for the over 18 million veterans across the country.

  • Keep calling your senators and representatives. Choose one terminated life-saving program, demand an explanation for its cancellation, and ask when the U.S. Government will honor its contracts and pay its bills. There are three major asks for Congress right now, so ask your representative to:

    • Insist on the immediate resumption of Congressionally-appropriated foreign assistance funds and the halt and reversal of all terminated active foreign assistance programs, in line with Congressional power of the purse.

    • Demand the Administration comply with the rule of law and pay back Implementing Partners for over $2 billion in work completed, including ensuring fully functioning payment systems. Absent payment owed, partners face bankruptcy and the international development sector will cease to exist imminently.


More details below…


Tweet from Secretary Rubio’s personal account announces formal end to the Foreign Assistance Review and an 83% of USAID programs cut–for now

  • Secretary Rubio’s tweet seemed to announce the completion of the 90 day Foreign Assistance Review after just six weeks, and with it, the formal announcement that 83 percent of USAID’s programs will be cut. Rubio claims USAID programs did not serve the core national interests of the U.S. and noted that the remaining 17 percent of programs will be managed by the State Department. (X, CNN)

  • This announcement, however, will not be the final word, given court cases and other actions still in progress. Not only has the administration itself rescinded hundreds of its own original terminations, but US District Court Judge Ali (judge in the implementing partner case) could find that these terminations were done arbitrarily and capriciously enough to violate the Administrative Procedures Act and thus should be rescinded. Most of USAID’s programs are driven by Congressional appropriations earmarks, which the executive branch in theory must fulfill or risk violating the Impoundment Act.

  • Notably, this announcement precedes the March 24 deadline for implementing partners (IPs) to submit responses to the Department of State’s “Foreign Assistance Review Data Call”, which “requires self-reporting from IPs to be assessed within the parameters of making America: (1) safer (2) stronger and (3) more prosperous.” This form asked managers of US foreign assistance programs whether the program had a waiver, limited mass migration to the US, combatted anti-Christian bias, etc.—and how many US-based jobs or US citizens the projects employ. (OMB, Guardian)


March 11 Hearing Scheduled in USADF Lawsuit, and New Lawsuit Filed by National Endowment for Democracy

  • These two lawsuits were filed in D.C. District Court last week and are worth following, as they raise impoundment and separation of powers issues similar to those brought by USAID implementing partners and employees.

  • The USADF president filed a lawsuit to block DOGE and Pete Marocco’s illegal takeover of the small, congressionally-established independent agency, specifically aiming to prevent them from unlawfully accessing USADF, removing the USADF President, and shutting down the agency. (Democracy Forward)

    • The suit argues that DOGE’s actions violate the Appointments Clause and the African Development Foundation Act. A March 11 hearing is scheduled to consider a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the suit. (Yahoo)

    • The suit, brought against Pete Marocco, President Trump, DOGE, and a number of other defendants, contests efforts to shutter USADF because of the fact that it was established by Congress, and also challenges the appointment of Marocco as Chair of the USADF Board without the consent of the Senate.

    • The suit seeks to enable the current USADF president to stay in office and challenges his removal as a violation of Constitutional Separation of Powers and a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.

  • On March 5, the National Endowment for Democracy filed suit (NED v. United States) in the D.C. District Court to challenge the impoundment of funds appropriated for the NED, and to gain access to obligated and Congressionally appropriated funds. (NPR)

    • The suit alleges that the government’s actions are arbitrary and capricious and a violation of the Separation of Powers; it requests that the State Department release funds appropriated each year to NED and that the Department of Health and Human Services release funds to pay vouchers for work already done.

    • NED also filed for a temporary restraining order (TRO), but a hearing has not yet been scheduled.


Trump Administration Threatens Mass Firing of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Employees

  • In February, more than 1,000 VA employees were fired before being rehired after lawmakers criticized the decision. However, a new memo reportedly calls for 80,000 firings across a roughly 480,000-person department potentially impacting essential services for the more than 18 million veterans in the United States. (Politico)

  • Federal job cuts disproportionately impact veterans because they are given preference in government hiring. At the end of fiscal 2023, 30 percent of federal employees were veterans. According to the most recent publicly available Employment of Veterans in the Federal Executive Branch report, 12 percent of USAID employees were veterans—a number that has likely increased since the 2021 report was published.

  • Health care, education benefits, housing assistance, and many other services veterans rely on are directly threatened by cuts to the VA. These cuts, which reportedly will take effect beginning in June, include the Veterans Crisis Line—a suicide prevention hotline for veterans and their families. (Reuters)


Happening This Week

  • OneAID Community is supporting USGLC’s Week of Action for International Assistance kicking off today! Please join the webinar today, Monday, March 10, at 2:00 pm EST and join us in this effort. More to come throughout the week.

  • Join us on the Hill on Wednesday, March 12, to deliver constituent letters and meet with staffers in support of foreign aid. Meet at 9:30 am EST at the Hart Building Atrium. All foreign aid supporters are welcome. Arrive early to allow time to go through security.

    • Whether or not you can attend on Wednesday, invite friends and family from across the country to write letters to their Representative and Senators in support of foreign aid to be hand-delivered. Print the letters to bring yourself or send them to congressaidletters@gmail.com by 5:00 pm EST on Tuesday, March 11 with the Congress member’s name, district, and state in the subject line.


Consistent Topline Messages (Talking Points)

Preserving Foreign Assistance as a U.S. Foreign Policy Tool

  • An effort from the Trump administration and Congress to reform and streamline U.S. foreign assistance is welcome, however, the current approach is not a serious reform effort: it is an ineffective, sloppy power grab that is—unintentionally or not—destroying U.S foreign assistance apparatus and depriving the U.S. of a critical soft-power tool. Foreign assistance keeps us safer here at home while demonstrating American generosity and saving millions of lives worldwide.

  • This flawed power grab is evident in the broken waiver process, which lacked clear procedures and failed to operate effectively, as well as the cancellation of over 10,000 State and USAID contracts, some of which had already been granted waivers.

  • Despite the Administration’s claims, even life-saving and critical national security projects approved for waivers by Secretary Rubio have not received funding. This stems from rushed, careless efforts to alter USAID’s financial system (Phoenix), rendering it non-operational and incapable of processing payments. This includes efforts to stem an Ebola outbreak that could infect Americans, HIV prevention and treatment, and sensitive work in conflict zones.

  • The Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID has left the U.S. without the systems, experienced personnel, or partners necessary to responsibly and strategically implement foreign assistance.

  • Americans agree: foreign assistance is a powerful U.S. soft-power tool, and 89 percent of Americans support spending at least 1 percent of our federal budget on foreign aid. For this reason, Congress must halt these illegal actions by DOGE and instead implement a more strategic, sensible reform effort that restores the legislative branch’s important oversight function.


USAID: The first, but not the last

  • USAID is the playbook for President Trump and Elon Musk’s plan for a rapid and potentially illegal overhaul of the U.S. Government without required Congressional approval and oversight for agencies codified by statute. Reform is welcome, but what DOGE is doing is not reform, it is taking a sledgehammer to destroy a vital tool of U.S. national security.

  • Rep. Bacon (R-NE) underscored this in his comments to the Wall Street Journal: “[USAID was] funding a lot of stupid stuff—that’s a fact. But they’re also doing a lot of good stuff too. So you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Instead of taking a sledgehammer, let’s get out the scalpel.”

  • Some Republican Senators have joined their Democratic colleagues in expressing alarm over the Trump administration’s foreign aid freeze and gutting of USAID. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Susan Collins (R-ME) wrote to Secretary Rubio stating they believe the State Department is acting unlawfully by failing to notify and consult Congress during the process.

  • Instead of undertaking a reform effort—working closely with Congress as is required by law—DOGE has taken a “burn it all down” approach, including mass firings and major infringements on Congress’s power of the purse. This may work for tech firms, but it is a dangerous approach for government institutions that must remain accountable to taxpayers, enforce and follow laws, and deliver public goods.


Current Impact

American Economy and Jobs:


Humanitarian Assistance

  • In Gaza, The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments to aid groups, leaving them paying out of pocket to provide assistance critical to preserving a fragile ceasefire. (AP)

  • In Sudan, famine has been confirmed in at least five areas and is likely to expand in the next three months. As physical and bureaucratic access impediments continue to hamper the response, U.S. funding cuts will make it nearly impossible for humanitarian actors to meaningfully sustain, scale up and preposition supplies to alleviate acute suffering. (ReliefWeb)

  • In Afghanistan and Lebanon, USAID-funded INTERSOS programs have been halted, depriving approximately 500,000 people from accessing life-saving humanitarian aid. (ReliefWeb)

  • In Zambia, women and girls are at risk of being forced into exploitative “sex-for-fish” practices as a result of the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts. The abrupt halt of USAID funding has forced ActionAid to shut down its work protecting women in Zambia’s remote fishing camps, stripping communities of vital resources to combat gender-based violence. This sex-for-fish practice has become increasingly common in Zambia as prolonged drought and failed crops have driven more women into the fishing business in search of an income, which quickly becomes a cycle of abuse and coercion for many. Drought-related food and water shortages have left millions of people struggling, with women and girls disproportionately affected. (ReliefWeb)

  • The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) is offline due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts, despite having received a stop work order waiver. FEWSNET monitors drought, crop production, food prices and other indicators in order to forecast food insecurity in more than 30 countries. FEWS NET is considered the gold-standard in the sector, and it publishes more frequent updates than other global monitoring efforts. (CNN)


Health

  • USAID Stop-Work highlights global health contracts that were deemed life-saving and granted waivers but were abruptly terminated by the administration across two days, prior to a key court deadline. This is a constantly evolving list.

  • According to Malaria No More, new modeling shows that just one year of disruption in the malaria-control supply chain would lead to nearly 15 million additional cases and 107,000 additional deaths globally. (AP)

  • In Bangladesh, nearly all—95%—of pregnant women in the world’s largest refugee camp could make it to a hospital bed with the help of social workers funded by USAID; as a result of the Trump Administration’s funding cuts, this has decreased to 40% to 50%. (CBC)

  • The Trump administration’s pause on foreign aid has halted programs that prevent and respond to infectious disease outbreaks around the world, leaving people everywhere more vulnerable to threatening viruses and bacteria: dangerous pathogens left unsecured at labs across Africa; halted inspections for Mpox, Ebola, and other infections at airports and other checkpoints; and millions of unscreened animals shipped across borders. (NY Times)


Democracy, Rights, and Governance

  • More than 80 Afghan women who fled the Taliban to pursue higher education in Oman now face imminent return back to Afghanistan after their USAID-funded scholarships were cut. (BBC)


National/International Media Review


Local Media Review


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