Top Line 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, but the approach taken to date is not a serious reform effort: it is an ineffective, sloppy power grab that has—unintentionally or not—destroyed the U.S foreign assistance apparatus and deprived 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 around the world.

• The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID have left the U.S. without the systems, experienced personnel, or partners necessary to responsibly and strategically implement foreign assistance—making the U.S. weaker, less safe, and less prosperous. 

• Due to the way in which USAID has been dismantled, it will take years to rebuild the capacity that has been critical support for countries to make progress on development and respond to humanitarian crises. At the same time, trust in the U.S. as a reliable partner is now in question around the world, as U.S. adversaries step in to fill the void. 

• 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. As we’ve seen, USAID is the first but not the last of this Administration’s efforts to dismantle the Federal Government. 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. This is being done without the Congressional approval and oversight required for those 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.”

• 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 laws, and deliver public goods.