Some Republicans backing USAID

Roll Call -  House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast’s effort Thursday to spotlight waste at the U.S. Agency for International Development resulted in Republicans, including some former aid officials, criticizing the manner in which the Trump administration is shuttering the government’s biggest foreign aid agency and grinding assistance programs to a halt.

“[Chinese President] Xi Jinping is watching and he is waiting for the chance to fill any U.S. vacuum,” said Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee. “Already, there have been many reports of Chinese Communist Party officials signaling their willingness to replace USAID in Nepal and [taking over] de-mining activities in Cambodia and these are just the instances that we know about. Even critics of USAID acknowledge the critical soft power of targeted and efficient programming.”

Mast, R-Fla., titled his hearing “The USAID Betrayal,” but two of the three witnesses — all of them former Republican lawmakers or senior appointees in Republican administrations — defended the bulk of the agency’s work and said Elon Musk’s cost-cutting task force should reverse course and allow the agency’s thousands of staff to resume work. Musk leads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

“If you’re upset about getting off course, so am I, but let’s course correct, not course destroy,” said Andrew Natsios, who led USAID for five years during the George W. Bush administration.