Skip to main content

Oxfam America: Trump move to dismantle USAID ‘cruel’ and ‘really has exceeded our imagination’

By Neal Augenstein

The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and the move to dismantle USAID is already “having deadly consequences for millions of people living in dire humanitarian emergencies and extreme poverty,” said Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America, in a WTOP interview.

“Dismantling AID is a callous and destructive political power play,” Maxman said. “Just the disruption and the confusion around the freezes and stop work orders are already harming people’s lives.”

According to its mission statement, “Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice.”

“As Oxfam America, we do not accept U.S. government funding,” Maxman said. “However, even though U.S. investment in foreign aid is less than 1% of the U.S. federal budget, it represents an enormous part of the humanitarian and development sector at an overall 42% of funding.”

On Monday, President Donald Trump said shutting down USAID “should have been done a long time ago.”

In the space of a few weeks, much of the agency was dismantled — work and spending ordered stopped, leadership and staff gutted by furloughs, firings and disciplinary leaves, and the website taken offline.

Lawmakers said the agency’s computer servers were carted away.

“It is an organization that has had experience and expertise over decades, and to pull that out, it’s like pulling the rug out,” said Maxman. “This has really been a cruel set of decisions and actions that have life and death consequences for millions of people — I think it really has exceeded our imagination.”

USAID was established in 1961 as an independent agency to advance U.S. foreign policy and American values, foster prosperity and save lives around the globe.

“This affects children today, mothers today,” said Maxman. “Clean water, sanitation, things that Oxfam and our partners do are already being affected by the stop-work orders.”

Trump told reporters Monday that he didn’t believe he needed congressional approval to shut down USAID.

“What’s happening is legally dubious, and must be swiftly challenged in court,” said Maxman. “Congress must take a stand. What’s happening is making everyone less safe here in the United States, and globally, and the effect is not hypothetical.”

WTOP’s Mike Murillo contributed to this report.

Iran launches barrage of missiles after Israel kills 2 of its top officials

By The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel killed two senior Iranian security officials in a major blow to the Islamic Republic’s leadership as it faces its greatest test in decades, and Iran responded Wednesday with renewed missile and drone attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors and Israel. Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war. Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani was the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij. Iran confirmed the killings of the men, who were key to Iran’s violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy’s 47-year rule. In response, Iran launched a barrage of what it said were multiple-warhead missiles Wednesday at central Israel to avenge Larijani's death. Israel’s medical service said two people were killed in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.
Read Next Story