[Going going...] After months of cuts, State Department says it's officially shuttering USAID

https://abcnews.go.com/US/after-months-cuts-state-department-officially-
shuttering-usaid/story?id=120267238

The State Department said Friday it was officially shuttering the U.S. 
Agency for International Development, in what could deal a final blow to 
the beleaguered foreign aid agency.

The move came several hours before a federal appeals court overruled a 
lower court's order that blocked Elon Musk and his Department of 
Government Efficiency from dismantling USAID.

In a memo distributed Friday to USAID employees and obtained by ABC News, 
Jeremy Lewin, the agency's new deputy director and a former Department of 
Government Efficiency official, wrote that the State Department "intends 
to assume responsibility for many of USAID's functions and its ongoing 
programming."

The State Department "will seek to retire USAID's independent operation" 
immediately and "assess" whether to rehire some unknown number of 
officials to "assume the responsible administration of USAID's remaining 
life-saving and strategic aid programming," the memo said.

"This transfer will significantly enhance efficiency, accountability, 
uniformity, and strategic impact in delivering foreign assistance programs 
-- allowing our nation and President to speak with one voice in foreign 
affairs," according to the memo.

"It will also obviate the need for USAID to continue operating as an 
independent establishment," the memo said.

As part of the move, the memo said, "all non-statutory positions at USAID 
will be eliminated."

Two weeks after a court ruled that attempts to unilaterally dismantle 
USAID were likely unconstitutional, a panel of three judges on the United 
States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit stayed that ruling on Friday, 
finding that the Trump administration is likely to prove that the DOGE's 
effort to dismantle USAID did not violate the Constitution.

"While defendants' role and actions related to USAID are not conventional, 
unconventional does not necessarily equal unconstitutional," Judge A. 
Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. wrote in a concurring opinion.

Trump administration officials, including Musk's DOGE group, have leading 
a widespread effort to dismantle the agency by laying off thousands of 
employees, revoking funding for more than 80% of its programs, and 
shedding its Washington, D.C., headquarters.

The decision to completely dissolve a federal agency is expected to prompt 
legal scrutiny, according to experts who said such a move would typically 
require congressional approval.

In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that the 
administration was officially moving to sunset USAID and that foreign aid 
would now officially be administered by the State Department.

"Thanks to President Trump, this misguided and fiscally irresponsible era 
is now over," Rubio said in his statement. "We are reorienting our foreign 
assistance programs to align directly with what is best for the United 
States and our citizens."

"We are continuing essential lifesaving programs and making strategic 
investments that strengthen our partners and our own country," Rubio said 
in his statement.

Critics of the Trump administration say its efforts to nullify the agency 
will cripple American influence overseas and carry devastating effects for 
some of the most vulnerable populations in the world, which relied on U.S. 
funding for health care, food, and other basic needs.

The State Department also said that its leadership, along with USAID 
leadership in place, had notified Congress of their intent to reorganize 
some USAID functions within the State Department by July 1 of this year.

The overall push to eliminate USAID and the reduction of the agency's 
staff is being challenged in multiple court cases.


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and 
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden 
fiasco, President Trump.  

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.