Thousands protest USAid workers being recalled from abroad or put on leave

It's heavily ironic that you see Jamie Raskin and others speaking in these constitutional terms when, functionally, USAID has been operating outside congressional oversight and specific appropriations as to what they are doing for decades,

added Howell

I think everyone in the world knows exactly what USAID is, no matter what part of the political spectrum they are on,

Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project, told the Washington Examiner, echoing the White House’s critiques

Samantha Powerformer USAID Administrator

While we don’t agree on all issues, we wholeheartedly agree that USAID and America’s foreign assistance programs are vital to our interests, that the career men and women of USAID have served each of us well, and that it is the duty of the Administration and Congress to swiftly protect the Agency’s statutory role,

wrote Samantha Power, Gayle Smith, Andrew Natsios, J. Brian Atwood and Peter McPherson

Failure to maintain the global engagement that foreign aid enables, to honor the men and women of our civilian service as we do those in the military, or weaken and even destroy the Agency is to the benefit of neither political party and the detriment of all Americans,

they wrote

USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus, and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law,

he told lawmakers earlier this week

Congress needs to stand up and defend USAid. Conservatives have told us that they care about these issues for years,

Nicovich said

Joia Mukherjeeamerican academic

This is showing that you can do a slash-and-burn to the American governmental apparatus, including foreign aid,

Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer of the non-profit Partners in Health, told the Guardian

Ed Markeysenator

We are the moral force of the world,

Markey said

It puts us and the world in danger in a way it never has before,

said the contractor, who requested anonymity to protect their job

You know that what is being said about USAid is not true,

Konyndyk said

Ed Markeysenator

This is a dictatorship in the making,

Ed Markey, a senator from Massachusetts, told the crowd

It’s enormous – it affects all Americans, ... In global emergencies, they’re the first responders. [After earthquakes and tsunamis], they’re the ones who are there first. You see airplanes offloading supplies that say ‘from the American people’.”

she told the Guardian, before adding of USAid staff

We are in a very, very dire place,

Jeremy Konyndyk, a top USAid health official under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, told the crowd

Let us work!” ... USAid! USAid!”

Protesters gathered near the Capitol under chilly, overcast skies and chanted

What’s happening is unconstitutional and illegal,

said Sharon Baker, who worked on grants and contracts for USAid for 11 years before retiring

This is an example” of what the Trump administration can do to agencies like the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA

he said

I think the fidelity to Trump changed,

she said

Claudia Sheinbaumpresident

USAID has so many things that, the truth is, yes, it is better they close it. And that, in any case, if there is going to be aid for different types, they should open other types of channels; that they be transparent, that is the issue, the big issue,

said Sheinbaum in her Tuesday morning press conference

The elimination of these programs would not only harm individuals and groups in Mexico but could undermine the current administration’s approach to migration, weakening efforts to address the root causes of migration, such as crime and insecurity,

said WOLA

Nayib Bukelepresident

While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements,

Bukele wrote on the X media site