Media Contact
Adam Allington
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was installed as acting administrator the U.S. Agency for International Development on Monday, after Elon Musk said President Donald Trump had signed off on shutting the agency down.
Aubryn Sidel
Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy
Aubryn Sidle is a lecturer and policy researcher at Cornell University, where her expertise centers on global education and community-driven development, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. She says eliminating USAID would harm multiple life-saving initiatives, including food assistance, disaster relief, and education development.
Sidle says:
“I don’t think anyone can really understand how far-reaching the consequences of dismantling USAID would be. The effects of children not being able to access schools could have implications for peace and security for a generation.
“Where I work in East Africa, China has been increasingly working with local governments to fund major infrastructure projects in the last 15 years. For better or worse, removal of U.S. financial support for core social and education programs provides a huge opportunity for other governments to expand their influence.”
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Rachel Beatty Riedl, professor of government and director of Cornell University’s Center on Global Democracy, says the cost of such a retreat from current U.S. commitments dangerously disrupts protections to life and liberty, “with clear costs both at home and abroad.”
Riedl says:
“USAID was founded in 1961 in a post-war world with the principle that American security, stability, and prosperity was tied to developmental advancements around the globe.
“Undercutting long-established relationships with partner countries around the world weakens America’s diplomacy and ability to compete with other global powers such as Russia and China for critical resources, markets, and geostrategic alliances against radical extremists or other threats to U.S. national interests.
“In this move to centralize executive power over USAID, President Trump would be making an exceptional move to shut down an agency that Congress codified into law. USAID is, by law, and independent agency which cannot be altered without congressional approval.”