A Scalpel Would Be Far Less Damaging Than A Chainsaw

The real impact of USAID funding being cut, from someone on the ground

Amongst Republicans, myself included, there have been many conversations about the USAID cuts and how so many of them are essential. What DOGE discovered was often alarming and almost always infuriating. How were our tax dollars being used for so many nefarious and often ideologically backward pursuits? What hasn’t been talked about enough, especially in GOP circles, are the USAID funds that were being used for legitimately positive and needed projects. Below, you’ll read the words of someone in our Here Are The Headlines community who has first-hand experience and is watching the USAID cuts’ impacts in real time. I felt her words were valuable and could offer us all some perspective as we move forward. As always, share your opinions in the comments.

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I live in a third-world country. I can’t say exactly where I am for security reasons, but this country was in the top five for most money received by USAID in 2023, and I am sure it has been in the top five for many years, if not decades, prior.

My husband and I work in the humanitarian space, and our organization partners with many other humanitarian organizations currently providing food assistance, medical clinics and training, community development through education and agricultural training, and relief from the effects of earthquakes, famine, and conflict. We are in an environment of unimaginable poverty, extremely limited healthcare, heavy spiritual darkness, and a long history of political instability. We are also in a country that has relied on USAID and other government funding for a long time. Because of our reliance on the Western world, we feel the shifts and changes in focus in a very real way. When the war in Ukraine started, followed by the conflict in Gaza, we saw funding immediately redirected towards those areas. Still, once stability in a region is dependent on foreign funding (or that is at least the perception), money somehow keeps flowing. Even with sanctions, humanitarian and relief dollars still get channeled here. That is changing with the massive cutting of USAID. I have read the reports and am angered by the dollars going towards transgender movements in other countries. I am not OK with my taxes going to propaganda to influence the other countries’ elections or public thinking through radio programs and news outlets. As an American, I want my tax dollars to build up and protect American interests – or I’d rather not be taxed at all.

BUT.