Latest news with #foreignaid
New York Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Republicans Rely on Trump's Promises to Grease the Path for His Agenda
When Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, first saw President Trump's request to cancel $9 billion in congressionally approved funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, he balked. He was wary of supporting a measure that would gut public media, given that his state relies so heavily on federally funded tribal stations. But before long, top Trump administration officials were assuring him that they would find grants to fund those outlets. That vague assurance was enough to win over Mr. Rounds, who ultimately voted for the measure. It was part of a pattern that has emerged as Republicans in Congress, increasingly ceding their power to Mr. Trump, continue to find ways of falling in line behind even elements of his agenda that run directly counter to their interests and stated priorities. Republican leaders presiding over slim majorities in both chambers are more and more dependent on the president and his team to cut side deals with holdouts to win enough votes to push through his top priorities. That has been the case for some of Mr. Trump's biggest legislative items, including the massive tax cut bill that slashed Medicaid and food assistance, and a bill clawing back $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds that Congress had already approved. In both cases and many others, skeptical G.O.P. lawmakers have relented after winning promises — sometimes little more than imprecise commitments for future action — that their pet issues will be addressed or their constituents spared the worst of the impacts. Horse-trading behind the scenes has always powered much of what goes on in Congress, particularly when it comes to major legislative pushes. But the past several weeks have been dominated by an extraordinary flurry of handshake deals and written carve-outs meant to assuage the most anxious Republicans, often with scant details about how the exceptions will be implemented or enforced. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Trump's funding cut stalls water projects, increasing risks for millions
TAVETA, Kenya: The Trump administration's decision to slash nearly all US foreign aid has left dozens of water and sanitation projects half-finished across the globe, creating new hazards for some of the people they were designed to benefit, Reuters has found. Reuters has identified 21 unfinished projects in 16 countries after speaking to 17 sources familiar with the infrastructure plans. Most of these projects have not previously been reported. With hundreds of millions of dollars in funding canceled since January, workers have put down their shovels and left holes half dug and building supplies unguarded, according to interviews with US and local officials and internal documents seen by Reuters. As a result, millions of people who were promised clean drinking water and reliable sanitation facilities by the United States have been left to fend for themselves. Water towers intended to serve schools and health clinics in Mali have been abandoned, according to two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. In Nepal, construction was halted on more than 100 drinking water systems, leaving plumbing supplies and 6,500 bags of cement in local communities. The Himalayan nation will use its own funds to finish the job, according to the country's water minister Pradeep Yadav. In Lebanon, a project to provide cheap solar power to water utilities was scrapped, costing some 70 people their jobs and halting plans to improve regional services. The utilities are now relying on diesel and other sources to power their services, said Suzy Hoayek, an adviser to Lebanon's energy ministry. In Kenya, residents of Taita Taveta County say they are now more vulnerable to flooding than they had been before, as half-finished irrigation canals could collapse and sweep away crops. Community leaders say it will cost $2,000 to lower the risk – twice the average annual income in the area. 'I have no protection from the flooding that the canal will now cause. The floods will definitely get worse,' said farmer Mary Kibachia, 74. Trump's dismantling of the US Agency for International Development has left life-saving food and medical aid rotting in warehouses and thrown humanitarian efforts around the world into turmoil. The cuts may cause an additional 14 million deaths by 2030, according to research published in The Lancet medical journal. The Trump administration and its supporters argue that the United States should spend its money to benefit Americans at home rather than sending it abroad, and say USAID had strayed from its original mission by funding projects like LGBT rights in Serbia. With an annual budget of $450 million, the US water projects accounted for a small fraction of the $61 billion in foreign aid distributed by the United States last year. Before Trump's reelection in November, the water projects had not been controversial in Washington. A 2014 law that doubled funding passed both chambers of Congress unanimously. Advocates say the United States has over the years improved the lives of tens of millions of people by building pumps, irrigation canals, toilets and other water and sanitation projects. That means children are less likely to die of water-borne diseases like diarrhea, girls are more likely to stay in school, and young men are less likely to be recruited by extremist groups, said John Oldfield, a consultant and lobbyist for water infrastructure projects. 'Do we want girls carrying water on their heads for their families? Or do you want them carrying school books?' he said. The US State Department, which has taken over foreign aid from USAID, did not respond to a request for comment about the impact of halting the water projects. The agency has restored some funding for life-saving projects, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said American assistance will be more limited going forward. At least one water project has been restarted. Funding for a $6 billion desalination plant in Jordan was restored after a diplomatic push by King Abdullah. But the funding cuts to other projects mean women in those areas will have to walk for hours to collect unsafe water, children will face increased disease risk and health facilities will be shuttered, said Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, CEO of Mercy Corps, a nonprofit that worked with USAID on water projects in Congo, Nigeria and Afghanistan that were intended to benefit 1.7 million people. 'This isn't just the loss of aid — it's the unraveling of progress, stability, and human dignity,' she said. The United States is not the only country to limit its foreign assistance, citing domestic priorities. Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden have also made cuts. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects a 9 percent to 17 percent drop in net official development assistance in 2025, following a 9 percent decline in 2024. In eastern Congo, where fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels has claimed thousands of lives, defunct USAID water kiosks now serve as play areas for children. Evelyne Mbaswa, 38, told Reuters her 16-year-old son went to fetch water in June and never came home – a familiar reality to families in the violence-wracked region. 'When we send young girls, they are raped, young boys are kidnapped.... All this is because of the lack of water,' the mother of nine said, without providing specifics. Reuters was unable to confirm her account of such attacks. A spokesperson for the Congolese government did not respond to requests for comment. In Kenya, USAID was in the midst of a five-year, $100 million project that aimed to provide drinking water and irrigation systems for 150,000 people when contractors and staffers were told in January to stop their work, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. Only 15 percent of the work had been completed at that point, according to a May 15 memo by DAI Global LLC, the contractor on the project. That has left open trenches and deep holes that pose acute risks for children and livestock and left $100,000 worth of pipes, fencing and other materials exposed at construction sites, where they could degrade or be looted, according to other correspondence seen by Reuters. USAID signage at those sites makes clear who is responsible for the half-finished work, several memos say. That could hurt the United States' reputation and potentially give a boost to extremist groups seeking fresh recruits in the region, according to a draft memo from the US embassy in Nairobi to the State Department seen by Reuters. Reuters could not confirm if the memo was sent and if revisions were made to it prior to sending. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment. The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab group based in Somalia has been responsible for a string of high-profile attacks in Kenya, including an assault on a university in 2015 that killed at least 147 people. 'The reputational risk of not finishing these projects could turn into a security risk,' the memo said. Al Shabab could not be immediately reached for comment. The Kenyan government did not respond to requests for comment. In Kenya's Taita Taveta, a largely rural county that has endured cyclical drought and flooding, workers had only managed to build brick walls along 220 meters of the 3.1-kilometer irrigation canal when they were ordered to stop, community leaders said. And those walls have not been plastered, leaving them vulnerable to erosion. 'Without plaster, the walls will collapse in heavy rain, and the flow of water will lead to the destruction of farms,' said Juma Kubo, a community leader. The community has asked the Kenyan government and international donors to help finish the job, at a projected cost of 68 million shillings . In the meantime, they plan to sell the cement and steel cables left on site, Kubo said, to raise money to plaster and backfill the canal. The county government needs to find 'funds to at least finish the project to the degree we can with the materials we have, if not complete it fully,' said Stephen Kiteto Mwagoti, an irrigation officer working for the county. The Kenyan government did not respond to a request for comment. For Kibachia, who has lived with flooding for years, help cannot come soon enough. Three months after work stopped on the project, her mud hut was flooded with thigh-deep water.
Mail & Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- Mail & Guardian
Mozambican children die after US funding cuts: Who bears responsibility?
Sign outside the offices of an organisation in Mozambique that was defunded by USAid. Photos: Jesse Copelyn After the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) abruptly terminated billions of dollars' worth of overseas aid grants, the health system in central Mozambique was left in tatters. Earlier this year, I travelled to two badly hit provinces of the country to describe the toll. In In a In the midst of all this chaos, I was often curious to know from people on the ground who they held accountable for this situation and who they believed needed to solve the problem. My assumption was that they would call for the Mozambican government to help them out. I was surprised to find that in the affected villages I visited, this was far from anyone's expectation. For most, it was simply unthinkable that their government could do anything to save them. 'You mentioned the government,' one community leader said after I asked whether the state should intervene. 'But even these chairs we're sitting on are stamped with USAid logos. So what help can we expect from the government?' Sign on the back of a chair in an organisation in Mozambique. The more I learned about governance in Mozambique, the more understandable this attitude became. Throughout the country, core government functions have been outsourced to a combination of foreign governments, aid agencies, interstate bodies and private companies. For instance, many of the country's essential medicines are procured by a large international financing body, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Until January, the transportation of these medicines to hospitals was overwhelmingly financed by US aid agencies, as were the pay cheques of many health workers. Outside of the healthcare sector, the story is similar. The main highway I travelled on was built and paid for by Chinese corporations and banks. To keep hydrated I relied on bottled water supplied by private companies because the taps either didn't run or produced contaminated water. In many of the impoverished rural settlements, there was virtually no state infrastructure, and people received no financial support from the government. Instead, they primarily depended on aid organisations. The country's national budget has historically been heavily supplemented by foreign bodies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union, though much of this support was suspended in 2016-17. Even national defence has been partially outsourced. When Islamist militants began rampaging through the northern province of Cabo Delgado, the government struggled to contain it and contracted Russian and South African mercenary groups. When that failed, they authorised a military intervention by the Southern African Development Community and invited a parallel mission by the Rwanda Defence Forces. It is thus no surprise that Mozambicans have virtually no expectation that their government will come to the rescue when facing an emergency. Instead, they look outward. As one community leader in a rural village told me, 'Here, we depend on Trump.' Cash-strapped and corrupt Mozambique has The government is deeply cash-strapped. The South African government spends 10 times more per citizen than the Mozambican government does. A large chunk of its spending goes towards paying off debt. Mozambique simply doesn't have the money to build an effective health system, though had it spent its limited budget reserves more effectively over the years it could have developed a health system that was at least a bit more independent of donor support. Instead, the country's budgetary resources have often been wasted on corruption. Mozambique ranks 146th out of 180 in the world on One clear example of this is the As a result of those decisions, the country was swallowed by debt. And when the extent of the corruption was publicised in 2016, the IMF pulled its financial support for Mozambique. A The country's governance crisis is further demonstrated by the An ambulance parked in the grass in the Dondo district of Sofala Province. Even during the brief one-week period I spent in central Mozambique, signs of corruption and mismanagement filtered into my interactions with officials. For instance, before I embarked on a multi-day tour of one province, government officials told me that someone from the provincial health department would need to accompany me on my trip. This was apparently to make formal introductions to district-level officials that I hadn't asked to meet. For this apparently vital service, the man would need to be paid a per diem of roughly R500 a day for two days, they said. The civil servant in question was a very senior person in the provincial health department. Despite facing a collapsing health system in the wake of the US cuts, he was apparently ready to drop everything he had going for the rest of that week to follow me around. When I explained that I wouldn't pay a government official to stalk me, I was told that saying no wasn't an option. This is unfortunately the way things are done around these parts, said a local who helped arrange the tour. Neither GroundUp, Spotlight nor I paid the bribe. US responsibility Against this backdrop, it is no surprise that defenders of the current US government have often resorted to arguments about moral responsibility when justifying the decision to abruptly slash aid. It is reasonable to ask why the American taxpayer should bear any of the brunt of Mozambique's public health system when so many of its problems have been caused by the Mozambican government itself. But it's not so simple. The Moreover, Mozambique didn't develop its high level of dependency in isolation. For more than two decades, the US actively took responsibility for core functions of the country's health system. Until January, the US government continued to sign numerous contracts with local organisations, pledging millions of dollars to help run life-saving health programmes for years into the future. The health system was consequently built around these commitments. If the US was going to take that much responsibility for the wellbeing of some of the world's most vulnerable people, then it had a duty to at least provide notice before pulling the plug. Instead, it chose to slash the funds instantly, and in a manner that needlessly maximised damage and confusion. Stop-work orders were issued overnight, which required that people who were doing life-saving work down their tools immediately. Organisations decided to adhere to these instructions rigidly in the hope that their funding would be reinstated. At that point the Trump administration said it was only pausing aid funding pending a review, and no one wanted to give the reviewers a reason to terminate their programmes. The consequence was complete chaos. Orphaned children in extremely rural parts of Mozambique waited for their case workers to bring them their medicines, but often they simply never came. Many of these children had no idea why they had been abandoned. When certain case workers decided to defy the stop-work order and continue their work voluntarily, they had to do so in secret. To add fuel to the fire, the Trump administration routinely provided contradictory information to its former recipients and to the public. The initial executive order signed in January said all foreign development assistance would be suspended for 90 days, pending a review, and might be restored after this time. Then US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver stating that the suspension wouldn't apply to life-saving humanitarian services. He told the public that organisations providing these life-saving services could instantly resume their work under this order. Yet the organisations themselves received different instructions from their USAid officers. Rather than immediately continuing their work, they were told to submit revised budgets that only covered life-saving services and to wait for approval. Organisations rushed to submit these budgets by the deadline. But in the end, the green light never came and their funds remained frozen. This was not only the case in Mozambique; In the meantime, Rubio Later on, the organisations received explicit termination notices, ending their programmes. Despite this, US embassies and several large media outlets continued to reference Rubio's order as if it was actually implemented en masse. Even as I write this, the on-again, off-again US aid story is unfinished. This mixed messaging created an enormous amount of confusion for staff of these organisations and the recipients of their work, ultimately for no clear benefit to the American people. There was simply never any reason to act this callously toward health organisations to whom USAid had pledged its support. In contrast to the rampant corruption that has plagued the Mozambican government, these organisations were heavily audited to continue receiving funding. The work they were doing was clearly making a material difference to some of the poorest people on Earth. In the far-flung settlements that I visited, villagers told me about how their lives had been transformed by these organisations. Many were only put on life-saving HIV treatment because of them. Whatever arguments one may want to advance about the importance of self-sufficiency and national responsibility, none of this justifies the US government administering the aid cuts in such a callous and confusing manner. This story was originally published by
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
The cold (and occasionally hot) war between Trump and his predecessors
What began six months ago as a series of small flare-ups between current and former presidents has become a steady low-grade conflict. Barack Obama says President Donald Trump has a 'weak attachment to democracy.' Bill Clinton says people should be 'worried' about Trump's willingness to ignore the courts. George W. Bush indirectly criticizes his dismantling of foreign aid programs.
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
China increases Southeast Asia development spend as West leaves the region
"The lack of Western and European money going into Southeast Asia is a real problem." That's Grace Stanhope from the Lowy Institute. "We're projecting a 20 per cent drop in bilateral foreign aid to the region by 2026." The third edition of the think tank's Southeast Asia Aid Map has found China leads the development race in Southeast Asia, boosting its financing in 2023 after reducing its development spend in the region by 68 per cent over five years. The regional superpower favouring market-rate loans for infrastructure projects, with rail ventures in Indonesia and Malaysia accounting for most of the annual increase. But it's the loans to the region's poorest countries, like Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia that have some concerned. Ms Stanhope says the reduced competition is leaving few options other than taking on China-funded debt. "These countries have far less options in terms of other development providers, and also far higher development needs, so there's really, there's very little option for them. Increasingly, these countries have little room to manoeuvre in their negotiations." Globally, a third of developing nations spend more on interest repayments than health each year. Executive Director at the Asia Pacific Development Diplomacy and Defence Dialogue, Melissa Conley Tyler doesn't want that to become the case in Southeast Asia. "In our region, thankfully, debt has not been as much of an issue, and I think we want to keep it that way. We don't want countries in the Indo Pacific to be heavily indebted. That's a huge problem if countries can't provide the services that they need to their citizens because they're paying back debt, which is usually at very, very high interest rates." The full impact of ongoing aid cuts is yet to be seen in the region.... with the US cutting its aid spend by more than 80 per cent this year, and the UK planning to redirect billions in foreign assistance towards its defence budget. Ms Conley Tyler says some of that has already been felt. "We know that the first deaths because of the US A-I-D cuts happened in Southeast Asia. It was in hospitals on the Myanmar border, where refugees who were fleeing the conflict." The Lowy Institute says that will result in the "centre of gravity" shifting in Southeast Asian development financing, with China, Japan, and South Korea making up most of the financing. Australia increased its aid to Southeast Asia in 2023, with Labor committed to raising its international assistance budget annually in line with inflation. Speaking at the ASEAN Leaders Summit earlier this month, Foreign Minister Penny Wong reaffirmed Australia's commitment to the area. "We now dedicate 75 cents of every Australian development dollar to our region, the Indo-Pacific. And our response to others reducing their funding has been to pivot and reprioritise, ensuring we respond to the most acute needs." Conley-Tyler says its critical for Australia to maintain that focus. "If you have a failed state on our doorstep, if you have a pandemic or animal diseases, if you have climate migration, all of those things are going to matter greatly to Australia. We would, of course, prefer to live in a region that is secure and stable and prosperous. And so the money we put into things like our development assistance is helping on our national interest in that."
