WASHINGTON (AP) 69制片厂制作传媒 Trump administration changes have upended the U.S. agency charged with providing humanitarian aid to countries overseas, with dozens of senior officials put on leave, thousands of contractors laid off, and a .
Democratic senators warned the Trump administration Friday against any effort to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development as an independent agency, responding to growing fears among its supporters that such plans may be in the offing.
Sen. Chris Murphy was one of a half-dozen Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to argue in statements and on social media that President Donald Trump would have no legal authority to dissolve the agency.
Aid organizations say the funding freeze 69制片厂制作传媒 and deep confusion over as a result 69制片厂制作传媒 has left them agonizing over such as those providing round-the-clock nutritional support to extremely malnourished infants and children, knowing that closing the doors means that many of those children would die.
Current and former officials at the State Department and USAID say staffers were invited to submit requests to exempt certain programs from the foreign aid freeze, which and the State Department on Jan. 24.
Three days later, at least 56 senior career USAID staffers were .
Three officials said many of those put on leave were lawyers involved in determining what programs might qualify for waivers, helping write proposals and submitting those waiver requests as they believed they had been invited to do.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. A Trump administration directive that aid organizations interpret as a gag order has left them unwilling to speak publicly for fear of permanently losing U.S. funding.
In an internal memo Monday about the staffing changes, new acting USAID administrator Jason Gray said the agency had identified 69制片厂制作传媒渟everal actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President69制片厂制作传媒檚 Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people.69制片厂制作传媒
69制片厂制作传媒淎s a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions,69制片厂制作传媒 Gray wrote.
A former senior USAID official said those put on leave had been helping aid organizations navigate the 69制片厂制作传媒渃onfusing process69制片厂制作传媒 to seek waivers from the aid pause for specific life-saving projects, such as continuing clean water supplies for displaced people in war zones.
Others were identified as having been involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programming, which the administration has banned.
On Thursday, a USAID human resources official who tried to reverse the action, saying there was no justification for it, was himself placed on leave, according to two of the officials who had viewed internal emails and verified them as authentic. Reporters from ProPublica and Vox first reported the emails on X.
The State Department and White House didn69制片厂制作传媒檛 respond to messages seeking comment about the staffing changes.
The new leaders at USAID also abruptly laid off contractors who made up about half the workforce in the agency69制片厂制作传媒檚 humanitarian bureau Tuesday, knocking them out of systems so that some vanished in the middle of videoconferences, the former senior official said. The targeted institutional service contractors do everything from administrative and travel support to grant processing and data analytics.
The staffing changes came three days after the State Department issued guidelines last Friday for implementing Trump69制片厂制作传媒檚 executive order freezing foreign assistance for 90 days. The department says it's reviewing the money the United States is spending to ensure it adheres to administration policy.
The guidelines initially exempted only military aid to Israel and Egypt and emergency food programs but also said program administrators and implementors could apply for waivers for programs that they believe would meet administration standards.
On Tuesday, new Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a broader waiver for programs that provide other 69制片厂制作传媒渓ife-saving69制片厂制作传媒 assistance, including medicine, medical services, food and shelter, and again pointed to the possibility of waivers. Rubio pointed to the broadened exemptions in an interview Thursday with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly.
69制片厂制作传媒淲e don69制片厂制作传媒檛 want to see people die and the like,69制片厂制作传媒 he said.
Rubio said there would be a program-by-program review of which projects make 69制片厂制作传媒淎merica safer, stronger or more prosperous.69制片厂制作传媒
The step of shutting down U.S.-funded programs during the 90-day review meant the U.S. was 69制片厂制作传媒済etting a lot more cooperation69制片厂制作传媒 from recipients of humanitarian, development and security assistance, Rubio said. 69制片厂制作传媒淏ecause otherwise you don69制片厂制作传媒檛 get your money.69制片厂制作传媒
The State Department said that since the aid freeze went into effect, it has approved dozens of waivers, although many were returned because they did not include enough detail. It said waiver requests for programs costing 69制片厂制作传媒渂illions of dollars69制片厂制作传媒 have been received and are being reviewed.
The department did not specify how many waiver requests had been denied but said thus far its actions had stopped more than $1 billion from being spent on programs and projects that are 69制片厂制作传媒渘ot aligned with an America First agenda.69制片厂制作传媒
Even with the broadening of exemptions for life-saving care, uncertainty surrounds what U.S.-funded programs legally can continue. Hundreds of thousands of people globally are going without access to medicine and humanitarian supplies and clinics are not getting medicine in time because of the funding freeze, aid organizations warn.
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AP reporter Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.
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