Trump Administration Faces Backlash Over Foreign Aid Cuts and Agency Dismantling

Efforts to reduce USAID and other foreign aid agencies spark legal challenges, congressional scrutiny, and international concern over humanitarian impacts.

The Trump administration has implemented sweeping cuts to USAID and other foreign aid agencies, reducing staff, freezing funds, and canceling thousands of contracts and grants worth billions of dollars.
Critics, including over 700 U.S. diplomats, argue the cuts undermine U.S. global leadership, create power vacuums for adversaries like China and Russia, and jeopardize humanitarian aid programs worldwide.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has spearheaded the restructuring, drawing bipartisan criticism and legal challenges, with courts ruling against the administration's attempts to withhold payments for completed projects.
Congressional lawmakers, including some Republicans, have expressed frustration with the administration's lack of transparency and failure to provide detailed justifications for the cuts during briefings by USAID official Peter Marocco.
Protests and resistance from federal employees, including a standoff at the U.S. African Development Foundation, highlight tensions over the legality and execution of the administration's actions.