Date: 2025-08-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028148
TRUMP
DISMEMBERING USAID
Senior USAID official put on leave after memo contradicting Rubio on aid
DISMEMBERING USAID
Senior USAID official put on leave after memo contradicting Rubio on aid
Original article:
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
What Trump and his henchmen are doing to the US civil service is unconscionable. Sadly, most Trump supporters won't understanding the implications of what has been going on in Washington and througout the country as government employees are 'let go' en masse until it is too late.
Donald Trump has the brain and character of a 3 year old ... yet Americans have elected him to perhaps the most powerful position on the planet. What does this say about Americans?
America is the richest country on planet earth by most measures ... but it is not the smartest bay any measure, and Americans seem to be the dumbest rich people on the planet.
Of course the majority of the people who in live in the Americas have migrated from somewhere else at some time in the past ... recent or way back.
Those who came of their own free will, came to make a 'better life'. A good reason.
Of course, this did not apply in the same way for those who came as 'product' in the slave trade.
I migrated from the UK to Canada to the United States in the mid-1960s. In the process, I increased my earning capacity by 5 times. I was an 'economic migrant ... plain and simple.
I was also lucky ... privileged if you will. I was well educated, a white male, english speaking, etc.
I was a valuable economic asset within the structure of American industry and available for exploitation. By American standards, I was a productive and low cost employee!
Over the years, I have done a lot of 'good work' but never became a 'billionaire'. It was never the priority. Unlike Trump, I tried to leave a trail of people who have benefitted from the work I have done, rather than merely being the source of my wealth and a discard arising from my economic exploitation ... essentiall the Trump model, not to mention most of the other ultra rich oligarchs that have emerged over the past 60 years of my adult lifetime!
Some people may know me as a strident critic of USAID during the 1980s and 1990s. So why don't I support DOGE and the elimination of USAID? My criticism of USAID was that it simply did not function very efficiently during this period, even though it stated goals were very good. I want to see USAID delivering a lot of value for the ooney cost, and I did not think that this was happening.
Eventually, USAID got its act together and has become a huge contributor to world progress at a relatively modest cost. Many of the programs run by USAID are atscale and delivered a huge amount of 'good' rather quietly. PEPFAR and PMI and a whole lot more in health are outstanding American initiatives. Assistance with agriculture, water, education, etc are all big positives. Little known by the American public ... but that is not unusual given the American publics rather limited intrest in anything important!
Trump and his enablers are in the process of doing immense socio-enviro-economic damge ... and it seems they do not understand nor do they care!
I keep thinking about my assessments of Canada and the United States when I first visited North America in the summer of 1960. Academically I was a year ahead of my Canadian contemporaries. The Canadias were a year ahead of their American contemporaries.
Though some rather small amount of education in the United States is at the top of world class education ... the majority of Americans get very poor education relative to world standards. It was bad in 1960, and over time world education has been getting better and US education has been trending worse.
There is a reason that immigrants are able to do well in the US economy! This is not difficult to figure out!
But fixing the problem is a challenge ... mostly avoided by most of those in positions of power!
Peter Burgess
Written by Lauren Irwin
03/03/25 12:09 PM ET
A top U.S. International Agency for Development (USAID) official has been put on leave after he released a memo that slammed the Trump administration’s moves to cut aid and said they will cause “preventable death.”
USAID has been heavily targeted by the second Trump administration. Nearly all foreign aid spending from the agency was cut, sending the global health community into chaos, with thousands of humanitarian aid workers losing their jobs.
Nick Enrich, the USAID official, said in a memo to his colleagues that the agency has been unable to implement “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a pause on aid, NBC News reported.
“This will no doubt results in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale,” Enrich said in the memo.
Rubio issued a waiver in late January exempting “life-saving humanitarian assistance” from the foreign aid freeze, but those working on the ground say crucial operations are still ground to a halt.
Enrich sent the memo to staff Friday in his capacity as USAID Global Health acting assistant administrator.
He criticized the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which have slashed thousands of jobs and essential programs at various agencies including USAID.
Enrich argued DOGE has created “intentional and/or unintentional obstacles that have wholly prevented implementation.”
The Trump administration and State Department said a line-item review of USAID’s grants has been completed, with Rubio making a final decision on whether to “retain” or “terminate” projects.
Enrich said 72 initiatives that include lifesaving assistance have not been approved for funding, NBC reported.
“The number of deaths attributable to the loss of USAID funding and support is not known at this time,” he wrote.
A source confirmed to NBC that Enrich was placed on administrative leave Sunday, two days after sending the memo.
“Working with this incredible group of experts and professionals to improve global health was the most rewarding thing I have ever had the chance to do,” he wrote in a farewell email, according to NBC.
The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) highlighted Enrich’s statement in one of his own. As the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Schatz said it was “inappropriate” to place Enrich on leave and said the public deserves “real action” from the State Department to prove why the aid was cut.
“These new details confirm our worst fears: the illegal and systematic dismantling of USAID will cause real suffering and deaths that are entirely preventable,” Schatz’s statement said. “Instead of addressing the issues outlined by Acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health Nicholas Enrich, the State Department has silenced and sidelined him.”
Updated: 1:15 p.m.
Tags DOGE DOGE DOGE cuts Elon Musk Elon Musk foreign aid Marco Rubio Marco Rubio Nick Enrich President Trump Trump administration Trump doge usaid USAID usaid cuts usaid cuts foreign aid usaid foreign aid cuts usaid official leave
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