Letter to the editor: USAID and putting America first

Dear editor, 

You may wonder why an international issue like the elimination and defunding of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has a place in a weekly county newspaper?  But when the issue is such flagrant disregard of people’s lives and well-being, we must ask, as the lawyer does in the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, “who is my neighbor?”  

Take for example, Ethiopia, one of the counties USAID helps.  Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent country. It has a rich history -the Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, came from Ethiopia. Now it is also home to more than 1 million people who fled the war and repression in South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, making it the third-biggest host country for refugees in Africa. USAID support for refugees in Ethiopia went beyond supplying food, tents, vaccinations, water, and cooking equipment. It also gave counsel to survivors of sexual violence, promoted hygiene practices to stop the spread of cholera, as well as strengthened country-wide health care, providing, among other things, treatment for HIV/AIDS, with special attention on mother to child transmission.

What message does it send the world when the world’s wealthiest country “puts America first” and pulls the plug on programs that are keeping vulnerable people alive?

USAID.gov is no longer a functioning website so I went to USAFacts.org, a non-partisan, not-for-profit resource, for info on this program.  It says:

USAID is an independent executive branch agency responsible for administering foreign aid and economic development assistance outside the US. Its functions include supporting economic growth, global health, and education, providing humanitarian aid in response to crises…

In 2024, $21.7 billion was spent by USAID; this is 3/10’s of 1% of all federal spending.

Source: Office of Management and Budget and US Department of the Treasury

According to PEW Research, 22% of that money is for humanitarian aid; 22% is for health; 14% for peace and security; and 27% of USAID budget is for economic development that supports the country’s own initiatives. Its purpose is to alleviate pain and suffering – a far cry from our president’s suggestion of helping Gaza by making it “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Musk’s indiscriminate change of a few lines of government computer code to save money is not giving a complex situation the attention it deserves, nor is it “putting America first.” These USAID programs were designed to help America as well as the countries that receive our help. Foreign aid programs have long served as a critical market for American agricultural products. Stabilizing situations in other countries helps American security and gives it influence. Eliminating USAID disrupts and fractures the whole worldwide emergency response network. 

Trump and Musk have shown neither remorse nor mercy by putting a monetary price on the lives of people too distant or different for them to think of as “neighbors.” But make no mistake about it, these people are an easy target, once Trump gets away with closing down one source of aid, our own Medicare and Medicaid will come next.

-Elizabeth V. Keokosky