How does the world view the U.S. right now? How do we deserve to be viewed? Are we working to create “the beloved community” which Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned, which is another way of saying “the kingdom of God?”
Not long ago, I heard an interview on the New Yorker Radio Hour with Atul Gawande, a writer, surgeon and public health researcher. Gawande served in the Biden Administration as the assistant administrator for global health, working with the agency USAID.
Remember USAID?
It’s hard to keep track of all that’s happened, but USAID was gutted early in the second Trump administration. This agency was the lead international humanitarian and development arm of the U.S. government, founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy.
According to Gawande, the results of its destruction are staggering. Scientists around the world are predicting millions of deaths will result from USAID’s hasty and ill-conceived elimination.
Gawande reports that The Lancet, an independent, international British medical journal, predicts the cuts could lead to as many as 14 million deaths by 2030. Hundreds of thousands have already died since USAID’s shutdown.
Remember “DOGE?” It was the short-lived entity known as the “Department of Government Efficiency.” DOGE hadn’t been commissioned by Congress. Nevertheless, Elon Musk held terrifying powers to arbitrarily slash federal programs.
Since its tenure was so brief, DOGE didn’t conduct detailed studies of whether programs were actually efficient. Most Americans would agree we should periodically review the work of “alphabet” agencies, including USAID, to make sure they aren’t wasteful.
But DOGE, wielding a chainsaw, depending on that day’s visual, simply dismantled things. Signs down, people fired, doors locked. The State Department absorbed bits of USAID’s work.
As Americans, and as Catholics, we should be deeply concerned about USAID’s landing on the chopping block.
This overseas aid constituted less than 1% of our federal budget. As Americans, we believe in working for the common good, and as Catholics we profess a preferential option for the poor. USAID did both.
It also projected a wonderful image of the U.S. onto the world stage, making friends for us globally and partnering us with agencies worldwide.
When first established, USAID immediately accounted for 9 million children being vaccinated against smallpox, helping to eradicate the disease worldwide.
Gawande cites maternal health programs being shuttered, vaccinations cut. Tuberculosis, what Gawande termed “the biggest killer in the world,” is seeing a resurgence.
And AIDS? In 2003, President George W. Bush launched PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, implemented in part through USAID. Working in over 50 countries, and the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease, PEPFAR is credited with saving 26 million lives and enabling 8 million babies to be born without HIV infection.
PEPFAR is still on the books, but an initial funding freeze/stop work order caused the termination of thousands of staff and a restriction in services.
We should remember that diseases don’t hesitate to cross borders. A resurgence of any disease endangers us all. It will be extremely hard to restructure a working program, even when — and if — we find the political will.
Many Catholic relief agencies worked with USAID, and they are still struggling to carry on. One was Catholic Relief Services, the official overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. bishops. We should support them and other worthy charities which have been impacted.
We can also let our representatives know that overseas aid is a priority and the image we want to project to a suffering world.
And like Pope Leo XIV, we can continually take today’s issues to prayer, to the God who desires kinship for us all.
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