Letter: Why should we care about USAID? | Letters To Editor

To the editor: Last week, funding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was cut off with staff around the world placed on administrative leave and ordered to return to the U.S.

The foreign aid freeze stops hundreds of programs that work to alleviate poverty, treat diseases and respond to famines and natural disasters. In fiscal 2023, USAID managed more than $40 billion in combined appropriations, estimated to be less than 1 percent of the federal budget.

So why should we care about far-distant programs at our expense?

• Stopping diseases at their source helps prevent them arriving at our shore. The world continues to battle COVID-19, malaria and Ebola on the ground.

• Protecting the Amazon basin (called the lungs of the world) from deforestation helps stop climate change.

• Making lives economically better for people in Central America will help curb the flow of desperate families trekking to our southern border.

• USAID’s Food for Peace program over the past 70 years has fed an estimated 4 billion people facing famine. The wheat, rice and sorghum provided is bought from U.S. farmers in the Midwest. According to NPR, due to the freezing of aid, $340 million in grain already purchased currently is being held on barges in California ports, vulnerable to rot, pests and spoilage.

• Empowering women and girls, advancing prosperity and building resilient societies means building more vibrant democratic communities. Having voices involved in their communities mean more stable nations and less vulnerability to extremism.

• Cutting of USAID programs will seriously affect coca eradication in Peru. Cocaine likely will end up on U.S. streets, and stopping it at the source is financially cost efficient.

Throughout my career, I have worked in many Asian countries, most of which are USAID grant recipients. I personally have seen the benefits to girls, women and men and have witnessed the building of resilience and capable local agencies. The staff — both local and expat — are professional and dedicated to the goals of USAID’s program. This all will be lost.

Yes, USAID might need improvements but not elimination. And we cannot lose the thousands of U.S. citizens who understand the complexities of other cultures. We cannot stop buying U.S. farmers’ surplus crops. We cannot abandon millions of people in Asia, Africa and Central-South America.

We ultimately must care, as it is in our self-interest.

Michael Bedford, North Adams

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