Trump administration says it's cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts
Washington (AP): The Trump administration said Wednesday it is eliminating more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and USD 60 billion in overall US assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of US development and humanitarian help abroad.
The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with the administration.
The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.
The Supreme Court intervened in that case late Wednesday and temporarily blocked a court order requiring the administration to release billions of dollars in foreign aid by midnight.
Wednesday's disclosures also give an idea of the scale of the administration's retreat from US aid and development assistance overseas, and from decades of US policy that foreign aid helps US interests by stabilizing other countries and economies and building alliances.
The memo said officials were “clearing significant waste stemming from decades of institutional drift.” More changes are planned in how USAID and the State Department deliver foreign assistance, it said, “to use taxpayer dollars wisely to advance American interests.”
President Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk have hit foreign aid harder and faster than almost any other target in their push to cut the size of the federal government. Both men say USAID projects advance a liberal agenda and are a waste of money.
Trump on Jan 20 ordered what he said would be a 90-day program-by-program review of which foreign assistance programs deserved to continue, and cut off all foreign assistance funds almost overnight.
The funding freeze has stopped thousands of U.S.-funded programs abroad, and the administration and Musk's Department of Government Efficiency teams have pulled the majority of USAID staff off the job through forced leave and firings.
In the federal court filings Wednesday, nonprofits owed money on contracts with USAID describe both Trump political appointees and members of Musk's teams terminating USAID's contracts around the world at breakneck speed, without time for any meaningful review, they say.
"'There are MANY more terminations coming, so please gear up!''' a USAID official wrote staff Monday, in an email quoted by lawyers for the nonprofits in the filings.
The nonprofits, among thousands of contractors, owed billions of dollars in payment since the freeze began, called the en masse contract terminations a maneuver to get around complying with the order to lift the funding freeze temporarily.
So did a Democratic lawmaker.
The administration was attempting to "blow through Congress and the courts by announcing the completion of their sham review' of foreign aid and the immediate termination of thousands of aid programs all over the world,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
A coalition representing major US and global businesses and nongovernmental organizations and former officials expressed shock at the move. “The American people deserve a transparent accounting of what will be lost — on counterterror, global health, food security, and competition,” the US Global Leadership Coalition said.
The State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had reviewed the terminations.
In all, the Trump administration said it will eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multiyear USAID contract awards, for a cut of USD 54 billion. Another 4,100 of 9,100 State Department grants were being eliminated, for a cut of USD 4.4 billion.
The State Department memo, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, described the administration as spurred by a federal court order that gave officials until the end of the day Wednesday to lift the Trump administration's monthlong block on foreign aid funding.
“In response, State and USAID moved rapidly,” targeting USAID and State Department foreign aid programs in vast numbers for contract terminations, the memo said.
Trump administration officials — after repeated warnings from the federal judge in the case — also said Wednesday they were finally beginning to send out their first or any payments after more than a month with no known spending. Officials were processing a few million dollars of back payments, officials said, owed to US and international organizations and companies.
But US District Judge Amir H Ali's order to unfreeze billions of dollars by midnight Wednesday will remain on hold until the Supreme Court has a chance to weigh in more fully, according to the brief order signed by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Ali had ordered the federal government to comply with his decision temporarily blocking a freeze on foreign aid, ruling in a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups and businesses. An appellate panel refused the administration's request to intervene before the high court weighed in.
The plaintiffs have until noon Friday to respond, Roberts said.
The administration has filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in one other case so far, arguing that a lower court was wrong to reinstate the head of a federal watchdog agency after Trump fired him.
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3 killed in landslide during road widening at Hulikal ghats in K'taka, CM announces ex-gratia
Shivamogga (Karnataka) (PTI): Three labourers were killed and four others injured after a landslide struck a road construction site at Hulikal Ghat in this district, police said on Friday.
The deceased have been identified as Raghavendra (37), Raju (30), and Shabbir (40), all engaged in wall construction work at the site, they said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the families of the deceased.
The incident occurred late Thursday afternoon at a hairpin bend in Hulikal Ghat in Hosanagara taluk, they said.
According to officials, a massive landslide of soil and rocks from the hillside buried the workers.
A total of seven workers were caught in the landslip. Three labourers died on the spot after being trapped under the debris.
Rescue teams managed to pull out four injured workers and shift them to hospitals in nearby areas, including Kundapura and Udupi, for treatment, they said.
The mishap took place during ongoing efforts to build a retaining wall aimed at ensuring the safety of vehicles navigating the ghat section, which is known for its steep curves and landslide-prone terrain.
An SDRF team from Mangaluru reached the place early Friday morning and took up relief work.
Police, fire and emergency personnel rushed to the spot soon after the incident and launched rescue operations.
Authorities said the sudden collapse of loose soil and rocks from the upper slope is suspected to have triggered the landslip.
A case has been registered, and an investigation is underway to ascertain whether adequate safety measures were in place at the worksite.
Taking to 'X', CM Siddaramaiah said that regarding the incident, I have spoken with District In-charge Minister Madhu Bangarappa and obtained information.
"I am deeply saddened to hear the news that three workers lost their lives when soil collapsed during the construction of a road barrier at a bend in Hulikal Ghat, in Hosanagara taluk of Shivamogga district. I pray that the souls of the deceased unfortunate workers attain eternal peace, and that their family members find the strength to bear this sorrow," he said.
These breadwinning lives, which were the support of their families, have been lost in this tragedy, and on humanitarian grounds, a compensation of Rs five lakh each will be provided to the families of the deceased workers, the chief minister added.
