DeLauro Press Remarks on Trump & Musk’s Unlawful Dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at a press conference on the unlawful freeze on foreign aid and the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Good afternoon. I am Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee. 

I want to thank my colleagues, Defense Subcommittee Ranking Member McCollum, and State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee Ranking Member Frankel for your leadership; for helping keep Americans safe and our military strong; for helping ensure America remains a beacon of hope around the world; and for being here to discuss the inhumanity and disastrous outcomes we stand to face as a result of the Trump Administration’s attacks on U.S.A.I.D. 

And my thanks, of course, to everyone who has joined us here, for helping to share this critical information with the American people.

Our nation is facing an extraordinary crisis. Donald Trump is attempting to claim absolute power for the presidency.

Trump has given Elon Musk, an unaccountable billionaire with immense conflicts of interest unprecedented access to the levers of government, and to sensitive and classified information. Maybe the deal was, for a return on Elon’s $280 million campaign contribution, he gets to play President. Looks like that was the deal.

He has picked fights with our closest allies, and has taken concrete steps towards alienating America from the international community. 

Elon Musk is supporting a right-wing Nazi Party in Germany, demanding Germany First, giving a Nazi salute as his henchmen shudder the USAID offices that deliver aid around the world. 

The Trump-Musk agenda is not America First. His agenda is America, alone. Our nation and the world will suffer for this.

We have seen President Trump illegally freeze and revoke lawfully enacted, Congressionally appropriated funding across a wide swath of government activities, and he has taken steps to move USAID, an independent agency established by President Kennedy, enshrined by an act of Congress, into the fold of the State Department while greatly reducing its capacity and capabilities.

Indulge me for a moment for some International Relations 101.

There is hard power, and there is soft power.

Hard power is our military. 

Soft power is everything else – our diplomacy, our cultural influence, and our humanitarian role, which all add up to our ability to win hearts and minds of the people of the world.

When we are helping impoverished communities and nations treat HIV/AIDS and other diseases, when we are feeding starving children in conflict zones, and when we help ensure villages have drinkable water, we are using – and gaining – soft power. 

We do these things because they are the right thing to do. We as the world’s wealthiest nation have a moral obligation to reduce needless suffering. 

But we also do these things because we cannot afford to lose influence and power to our adversaries. When we retreat from the global stage, China and Russia fill in the gaps, and the world becomes a more dangerous place. Whose name is on the sack of flour?

China, Russia, and Iran are cheering on this Administration. They are desperate to step into the void when America gives up on its international promises and commitments. 

They would love to step into the void and convince growing and emerging economies that the U.S. is unreliable, and that they should partner with China, Russia, and Iran instead.

People know who cured their disease, who put food on their table, and who built a water well. 

They know the United States has genuinely partnered with them on this and much more for decades. And they will immediately know when we are no longer there.

People should understand that USAID’s priorities are also our priorities. Countering fentanyl. Strengthening food security. Reaffirming the United States as a global leader. 

But when we give all of this up – when we are unable to use soft power to resolve conflict – hard power is all that is left. 

We cannot retreat from the world stage under the guise of putting “America First.” We put America first by demonstrating the power of American leadership – that we have the strength and resolve and heart to fight for the most vulnerable people, and protect their freedom, and preserve their dignity.

America cannot look away while millions starve. America cannot turn a blind eye to widespread, preventable, communicable disease. America cannot ignore needless and immense suffering in Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, the Middle East, and in other conflict areas.

While reviewing programs for effectiveness should always be part of our responsibilities, shutting down USAID wholesale will unequivocally lead to more illness, more suffering, and more death.

And, it thwarts the law.

What they are doing with USAID defies USAID’s legally-mandated statutory independence, Congress’s requirements in the annual appropriations Acts, and tramples on a whole host of other laws and rules that protect civil servants and secure sensitive information. The order to recall all USAID personnel from their overseas posts betrays our partners and people around the world that depend on the United States and endangers government property left deserted.

For the sake of the safety and security of Americans and the entire free world – for the sake of the most vulnerable among us – and for the sake of the rule of law – we must reverse the recent USAID order and bring USAID workers back, today. 

We must reopen USAID offices. 

We must resume this funding. 

And we must stop this lawless Administration in its tracks. 

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