Denison Forum
Dr. Jim Denison
“For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous—and, in many cases, malicious—pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight.”
That is how President Donald Trump recently described the agency overseeing the vast majority of the government’s humanitarian efforts. Those thoughts have been echoed across numerous press conferences, television appearances, and posts on social media by both Trump and people working closely with him on this issue.
However, given that USAID disbursed somewhere in the neighborhood of $72 billion of assistance in 2023—the last year for which we have concrete numbers—some waste is unavoidable. The more pressing question is to what extent that waste represents the true mission and functionality of the agency. Unfortunately, that’s where things start to get a bit murky.
Before we get too far down that road, though, it’s worth taking a moment to better understand what USAID was founded to do so we can then discern the degree to which that purpose is both necessary and relevant today. More Here
Shuttering of USAID could mean the end of millions in income for Midwest farm operations
