The Trump administration's vision for USAID
The Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development may be the first step in a broader plan to use foreign aid as a support system for fossil fuels.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has put a 90-day freeze on most foreign assistance, ordered an end to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and deployed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to slash federal agencies and personnel. It's all in line with Project 2025, the policy handbook produced by the Heritage Foundation with input from more than 100 conservative organizations.
Project 2025 and USAID
The administration's attempts to entirely dismantle USAID — led by unelected billionaire Musk — go beyond what Project 2025 proposed. Musk has said he is "feeding USAID into the woodchipper," and the Trump administration has moved to fold the agency into the State Department. A federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from putting thousands of the agency's employees on leave.
It's unclear whether Musk and the Heritage Foundation are on the same page, and neither responded to requests for comment. But Project 2025 offers insight into what Trump allies want out of U.S. foreign aid: the promotion of fossil fuels and the elimination of foreign country regulations that American industry finds burdensome.
Conservative blueprint for USAID
The conservative blueprint calls for downsizing the agency's work, rescinding its climate policies and shuttering programs aimed at curbing global warming. It pushes anti-labor union reforms in Latin America, admonishes USAID for cutting off "clean fossil fuels" in Africa and proposes using taxpayer dollars to "promote private-sector solutions to the world's true development problems."
"USAID should cease its war on fossil fuels in the developing world and support the responsible management of oil and gas reserves as the quickest way to end wrenching poverty and the need for open-ended foreign aid," the blueprint says.
Future of USAID under Trump's policies
During the Biden administration, USAID took on a greater role in addressing climate change — through projects focused on resilience and renewable energy — though it devoted only a fraction of its budget to the issue.
Under Trump, USAID — if it survives — could become an agency just tasked with providing global food and humanitarian assistance, with international fossil fuel promotion doled out to other agencies.
For example, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., which provides private sector funding for development in lower- and middle-income countries, could be expanded to support bilateral efforts on fossil fuel projects, said Karen Mathiasen, a project director at the Center for Global Development.
Challenges and concerns
The moves to remake USAID have gotten muddied by Musk's intervention. Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency have been given unprecedented access to government infrastructure — including a critical Treasury Department payment system — and have moved quickly and possibly illegally to cut programs and personnel across the government.
Congressional Republicans have largely stayed silent amid concerns that Musk's moves violate Congress' constitutional power of the purse. But lawsuits are starting to emerge, and Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Wednesday that Musk has gone too far.
Democrats have called the moves to shutter USAID corrupt, cruel and unconstitutional.
"Getting rid of [USAID] makes us all less safe. It is also downright illegal," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) said during a rally outside the Capital on Wednesday where a crowd chanted "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go."
Even some conservative critics are concerned with the Trump administration's blunt approach to downsizing government.
Neither Musk nor Trump has the power to simply cut agencies or programs that have been funded by Congress, said Jessica Riedl, an economist at the conservative Manhattan Institute who has spent more than two decades identifying government waste.
"I am sympathetic to the idea that there is significant waste and unnecessary expenditures in the federal budget, but the way to cut spending is to go through Congress and pass laws either rescinding or preventing the future appropriations of these programs," she said. "The president can't unilaterally cancel spending that has been approved by Congress and signed into law."
The Trump administration's attempt to gut USAID has also stoked worries that without experts in place to administer foreign assistance, there will be more opportunities for fraud, waste and abuse, said Chris Milligan, a former USAID counselor during Trump's first term.