USAID workers say goodbye to headquarters as Trump drastically cuts foreign aid

WASHINGTON - US Agency for International Development workers were allowed to briefly re-enter the headquarters in Washington on Feb 27 to collect their personal belongings and clear out their desks, a day after President Donald Trump's administration said it was

cutting more than 90 per cent

of the agency's aid contracts.

Mr Trump

ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid

in January to conduct a sweeping review to ensure that all the projects funded with US taxpayer money were aligned with his "America First" policy.

The order, and ensuing stop work orders, threw USAID into turmoil, halting the agency's operations around the world, jeopardising the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and

throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.

Mr Trump tasked billionaire and adviser Elon Musk with dismantling USAID as part of an unprecedented push to shrink the federal government over what both say is wasteful spending and abuse of funds.

Thousands of staff were put on leave and contractors terminated, with workers barred from entering the agency's headquarters in downtown Washington. The majority of those put on leave are not expected to be reinstated.

USAID workers left the agency headquarters on Feb 27 carrying cardboard boxes of personal items to applause and cheers from about 80 people, a mix of fellow workers and members of the public who had come to show their support.

An eight-year-old girl whose father was inside the building clearing out his cubicle after 30 years at USAID, held up a handmade sign that read: "I'm proud of you Daddy."

In her other hand she clutched a US flag. Her mother, standing next to her under an umbrella to shield from a steady drizzle, said she did not want her daughter or family to be identified out of fears of retribution.

"We are still processing being called criminals for serving our country for 30 years," she said.

Ms Angela Stephens, 61, who has worked at USAID in its communications department since 2008, said it was an emotional and sad day for employees there.

"There is always change when a new administration comes in. What we didn't expect was the entire dissolution of our agency. I don't know what I'm going to do next," Ms Stephens said.

Review rapidly completed

A US State Department spokesperson on Feb 26 said that USAID evaluated 6,200 multi-year awards and had decided to eliminate nearly 5,800 of them with US$54 billion (S$72 billion) in value, a 92 per cent reduction.

The spokesperson said the Trump administration moved to "rapidly complete" the review after a federal judge intervened and ordered the administration to release frozen funds to foreign aid contractors and grant recipients. That order was paused by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts late on Feb 26.

Mr Pete Marocco, who is currently acting as deputy administrator of USAID and director of foreign assistance at the State Department, had said in a court filing that making the payments by the original court-imposed deadline would have been extremely difficult.

The spokesperson said that critical awards including food assistance, life-saving medical treatments for HIV, and other critical support remain.

However, several of the largest US-funded HIV/Aids programmes in South Africa were told that their funding would not resume, according to three senior leaders at health organisations, while a global non-profit that works on malaria and maternal and newborn health had the majority of its contracts cancelled.

UNAids, the United Nations agency tackling HIV and Aids, had its contract with USAID cancelled, documents reviewed by Reuters showed. REUTERS