The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), in conjunction with the Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance, hosted a congressional staff briefing on Capitol Hill today to examine Administration’s proposal to abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and merge remaining functions into the State Department. The briefing, moderated by George Ingram, a Senior Fellow at Brookings and a member of MFAN, focused on the ramifications of the mass terminations of USAID programs, and, if Congress allows the abolishment of USAID to proceed, how the remaining USAID functions can best be structured in the State Department to minimize further damage to U.S. capabilities for humanitarian and development assistance.
The event, held in the Rayburn House Office Building’s Gold Room, featured a panel discussion with James Richardson, who served in the first Trump Administration as Director of the State Department Office of Foreign Assistance and as Assistant to the USAID Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Learning; David Cronin, Manager of Government Relations at Catholic Relief Services; Susan Reichle, former Counselor to the Agency at USAID; and Marcia Wong, former Acting Coordinator for the State Department’s Bureau for Conflict and Stability Operations and former Deputy Assistant USAID Administrator for Humanitarian Assistance.
Panelists shared significant concerns regarding the potential implications of the re-organization proposal and underscored the immediate impacts happening on the ground, including lives lost due to the termination of life-saving assistance programs, staffing and capacity issues, oversight and cost-effectiveness, and how China is already stepping in to fill the vacuum left the ending of U.S. supported programs. They also discussed MFAN’s recommendations issued in early March: The Future of U.S. Development and Humanitarian Assistance: Recommendations for Influence and Impact
This was the second congressional staff briefing MFAN has hosted in partnership with the Caucus this year and the fifth briefing with the Caucus since it was relaunched under the leadership of Congresswoman Young Kim (R-CA) and Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) in late 2023.
