It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
Pete Marocco oversaw the cutting of thousands of contracts at U.S.A.I.D. and the firing of most of its roughly 10,000 workers. Aid agency employees have accused him of mismanagement.
The U.N. food program said the new cuts “could amount to a death sentence” for millions of desperate people.
The move comes despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the U.S. would still do some humanitarian work while shrinking foreign aid. Democratic lawmakers have denounced the cuts.
The appeals court panel said that whatever influence Elon Musk and DOGE had, it was ultimately agency officials who had signed off on the various moves to gut the agency.
The staff of U.S.A.I.D. will be reduced to some 15 legally required positions. The agency employed about 10,000 people before the Trump administration entered office.
After blowing up at Elon Musk, Secretary of State Marco Rubio aims to bolster his position. He is seeing Saudi and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia and allied diplomats in Canada.
The groups that sued insist the court’s ruling ought to force the Trump administration to restore all funding delivered via U.S.A.I.D. But the administration says it has the power to decimate the agency.
The world is likely to see millions more malaria infections and 200,000 cases of paralytic polio each year, according to an agency whistle-blower.
Democrats said a review mandated by executive order was “not a serious effort or attempt at reform.”
The contracts financed Ebola screening at airports and protective equipment for health workers, and helped prevent transmission by survivors of the disease, according to a former U.S.A.I.D. official.