WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Concern is mounting that the ongoing tumult at the U.S. Agency for International Development is jeopardizing lives and livelihoods supported by the government’s humanitarian aid agency in countries all over the globe, including those assisted by Catholic and other faith-based humanitarian groups.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed Feb. 3 that he was named USAID’s acting administrator days after billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk targeted it for closure as part of his Department of Government Efficiency, an unofficial task force with the stated intent of curbing federal spending. President Donald Trump has given Musk wide latitude to do this as a designated “special government employee.”
Rollbacks to USAID could greatly impact the work of Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, the overseas charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., and also other faith-based entities around the globe that have partnered with USAID in its work abroad.
Amid a broader freeze on federal spending on foreign assistance, senior officials at USAID were suspended, while the Trump administration moved to place most of the agency’s staff on leave. Staffers were instructed to stay out of the Washington headquarters Feb. 3 and 4, according to documents reviewed by OSV News.
Public officials made conflicting comments about the future of USAID.
Musk said on social media, “With regards to the USAID stuff, I went over it with (the president) in detail and he agreed that we should shut it down.”
But in comments to reporters in Panama, Rubio said he has some “frustration” with the agency but suggested some of its efforts would fall under his department’s purview instead of continuing as a separate entity.
“There are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy,” Rubio said.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued in Feb. 3 remarks on the Senate floor that “unilaterally closing USAID is illegal.”
“Donald Trump does not have the authority to erase an independent agency created by Congress,” Schumer said. “Nor can the Department of State absorb USAID, especially because now there is basically nothing left to absorb.”
Kevin R. Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, made a similar argument in a Substack post. He argued dismantling the agency requires congressional authorization since the president’s temporary authority to make changes to USAID expired in 1999.
“Whether USAID should be reformed or abolished is not something I take a position on. If Trump wants to defund USAID, all he needs to do is to ask the GOP-controlled Congress to put a zero next to the USAID portion of the State Department’s appropriations bill,” he wrote.
Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act in 1961, which reorganized U.S. foreign assistance programs to separate military and non-military aid. That legislation mandated the creation of an agency to administer economic assistance programs. President John F. Kennedy, the country’s first Catholic president, did so shortly after the bill’s passage, when he established USAID the same year.
The agency’s budget was about $43.4 billion in fiscal year 2023, according to the Congressional Research Service. Federal records show USAID funding comprised less than 1 percent of the federal budget.
Approximately 130 countries received USAID assistance, according to the Congressional Research Service.
According to a review by Forbes, USAID’s top NGO recipient for fiscal years 2013-2022 was Catholic Relief Services at $4.6 billion. The nonprofit is an arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S. that is dedicated to assisting the poor and vulnerable overseas in coordination with Catholic agencies in those countries.
CRS declined OSV News’ request to comment on the developing situation at USAID.
On its website, CRS urged its supporters to tell their members of Congress that aid programs should continue during the review period.
“The Administration has begun to issue immediate stop work orders on almost all foreign aid as they review State Department and USAID programs between now and April 20,” the website said. “New administrations usually review ongoing programs against their policy goals. However, ceasing almost all lifesaving humanitarian and development assistance during that time will have real impacts for human life and dignity and on U.S. national interests.”
“U.S. foreign aid is not a handout. It has real impact on human life and dignity and advances U.S. national interests,” it added.
The National Catholic Reporter said in a Feb. 5 report that layoffs had already begun at that organization, citing an internal email telling staff, “We anticipate that we will be a much smaller overall organization by the end of this fiscal year.”
But supporters of the move argued USAID engaged in wasteful spending. The conservative Heritage Foundation argued on social media that USAID peddled “destructive ideologies across the globe” aligned with the political left, and was “a massive waste of taxpayer money and drastically overdue for vast and fundamental reform.”
Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic who has tussled with the U.S. bishops over the church’s involvement with migrants and refugee resettlement, defended cuts to foreign assistance Feb. 5 at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington. Without specifying USAID, Vance claimed the U.S. had been sending “hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars abroad to NGOs that are dedicated to spreading atheism all over the globe.” Vance’s comments had a mixed reception as cuts to foreign assistance directly impacted the religious freedom work of some organizations at the summit.
Multiple Catholic humanitarian officials and analysts, some of whom would only speak on background, told OSV News lifesaving foreign assistance programs could be jeopardized by disrupting USAID funds.
“I would encourage Catholics to listen carefully to what their bishops, priests, and women religious have to say about the Christian call to help the poor, victims of natural disasters and wars, and the refugees,” Richard Wood, a sociologist and president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, told OSV News.
“Those are core callings of our faith. Better yet, watch what the church does,” Wood said. “Then compare that with what they are hearing from political leaders of all stripes.”
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