The chaos caused by the demise of the US Agency of International Development was on full display at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing about the agency held on Thursday.
There was confusion over which programs were still frozen and which had been given a waiver. Most Republicans railed on the left for allowing culture wars to infiltrate the core mission of the agency, but the panel’s former GOP chair argued that its intended function, which dispenses billions in humanitarian aid and development funding annually, needed to be protected.
House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast opened the hearing saying that many of the programs USAID was funding were “indefensible,” citing sex change surgeries in Guatemala, programs to teach people in Africa about climate change and efforts to teach people in Kazakhstan how to fight back against internet trolls.
But the former GOP chair of the committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, defended the core mission of the agency, while arguing changes needed to be made.
“All of these programs gave USAID a black eye. And that’s unfortunate,” McCaul said. “I believe it still has a legitimate purpose to counter the threat of China and Belt and Road and our other foreign adversaries. It also has the ability to counter terrorism.”
Meanwhile, Democrats tried to personalize the chaos caused by the USAID funding freeze. Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider called the committee to hold a moment of silence as the result of a woman who fled Myanmar and died at a refugee camp in Thailand when USAID funding was cut off.
Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs asked Republicans if they would like Ebola to spread in the United States, leaving most quiet. And the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Gregory Meeks, criticized Republicans for holding the hearing with witnesses from the private sector and not from the Trump administration.