STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's get a picture of what the United States is no longer doing, as the administration tries to shut down a foreign aid agency.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah. The Trump administration has put most of the agency's global workforce on administrative leave and frozen the majority of its budget. Elon Musk claimed, without evidence, that the U.S. Agency for International Development is corrupt or criminal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he wants to make sure the work aligns with the national interest. Now, until recent days, the U.S. was the largest owner of foreign aid in the world.
INSKEEP: NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel covers global health and has some facts to put all this in context. Good morning.
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: Hi.
INSKEEP: OK. So when we say the U.S. has been the largest donor of foreign aid, how much are we talking about?
EMANUEL: If you look at 2023, total foreign assistance was $66 billion. It reached a lot of people, but it represented less than 1% of the U.S. budget.
INSKEEP: OK, so we certainly spend more on other things. But it's $66 billion, which is a lot for foreign aid. What did that mean for certain places like, say, Ukraine, where the United States has paid so much attention?
EMANUEL: Ukraine is among the top recipients of U.S. aid. It goes to things like rebuilding infrastructure after it's attacked by Russia, or seeds and fertilizer to build up the agriculture sector to get more exports. The Trump administration has issued some narrow waivers, but most things have stopped. For example, NPR's Ukraine Bureau has confirmed disruptions in the delivery of HIV/AIDS medications.
INSKEEP: And I want to figure out where the U.S. interest lies. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, listen - I want foreign aid to be in the U.S. national interest and not charity. At the same time, Rubio acknowledged sometimes foreign aid is in the U.S. national interest. So why does the United States traditionally provide this type of assistance?
EMANUEL: Part of the thinking is helping people creates goodwill, and it gives the U.S. greater influence in the world by stabilizing countries so they don't turn to America's adversaries for support. I spoke with Andrew Natsios. He's the former director of USAID under President George W. Bush, a self-described conservative Republican. He says halting foreign aid is happening at a precarious moment, as the U.S. competes with Russia, China, Iran for influence.
ANDREW NATSIOS: We just lost the battle. It's not because we were fighting and we lost. We took our troops and we went home (laughter). That's what we did.
EMANUEL: Now, he agrees with Trump that government spending is at crisis levels, and he does not think every foreign aid program is perfect. But he says cutting all of USAID is cutting muscle, not fat.
INSKEEP: I suppose we should pause to say that there are members of Congress who assert that all of this is illegal - Congress has devoted the funding to USAID and created this agency, and that its work is supposed to go ahead. But we are told that everybody at USAID has been told to come home. So how's this playing out on the ground?
EMANUEL: Well, U.S. assistance goes to a lot of things, but particularly health - helping control disease outbreaks, for example. So if we look at Uganda, it is dealing with an ebola outbreak right now. The World Health Organization told me typically, the U.S. would be funding technical support, like transportation of highly contagious ebola samples and screening at airports to make sure no one is carrying the virus across borders. But this time, that U.S. funding has stopped.
INSKEEP: Ah. Trying to make sure it doesn't cross borders - and you can see the U.S. national interest there, I suppose. NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel covers global health. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
EMANUEL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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