President Trump’s abrupt freeze of USAID also hurts American farmers

[Multicolored Lemur]

Almost $500 million in food is at risk of spoilage after USAID pause, report says

A report from the USAID inspector general says that almost $500 million in food assistance is sitting in ports, ships and warehouses.

www.cbsnews.com

Feb 12, 2025 —

“With USAID funding paused, there is concern among U.S. farmers about the market for some of their products, including Kansas sorghum producers, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.”

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Let's get into it. The Parable of the Good Samaritan, and the blessing we receive when we‘re able to help, both for ourselves and others.

And we can also get into different definitions of conservatism. One approach is, no abrupt changes. Take a solid medium step, and see how it goes. And take it from there.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

The US State Department says humanitarian assistance can continue. Foreign aid workers say that’s not happening | CNN

US-funded aid work around the world has been largely brought to a standstill, multiple sources tell CNN, despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claims that the United States continues to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid.

amp.cnn.com

article Feb 8 —

statement Thurs Feb 6 —

“If it’s providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you’re not included in the freeze. I don’t know how much more clear we can be than that,” Rubio said , questioning the competency of organizations that haven’t applied for a waiver.

— — —

Ignore for the time being the part in which Rubio is questioning the ability of others. Interestingly, I think “competence” also involves knowing your limitations and playing to your strengths. But ignore for time being.

Focus on the positive statement being made by Secretary of State Rubio about what we the United States of America will do.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

This is an important topic Lemur.

President Trump moving too fast with executive orders has cause a lot of bad ripple effects. A lot of these issues that are coming up could've been noticed had they followed your advice

Take a solid medium step, and see how it goes. And take it from there.

Yeah, Rubio is being unreasonable. Trump deserves much of the blame and not those orgs that haven't applied for waivers yet. Trump should have already picked out which programs to cut or have some way to re-qualify them, as opposed to his across the board cuts. I do like the goal but I hate the approach.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Yeah, Rubio is being unreasonable.

I disagree.

Secretary of State Rubio is saying that if the aid is immediate and urgent, it's not included in the freeze. This is the can-do, future oriented part I'm going to focus on.

— —

The part about questioning the competence of organizations, I'm going to view as more like scoring points or counting points.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

The US State Department says humanitarian assistance can continue. Foreign aid workers say that’s not happening | CNN

US-funded aid work around the world has been largely brought to a standstill, multiple sources tell CNN, despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claims that the United States continues to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid.

amp.cnn.com

Feb 8, 2025 —

“Our payment systems have been taken over. We no longer can pay. We don’t have staff,” the USAID employee said, adding that has caused even supposedly exempt work to stop, in dire places like Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Ethiopia.

The power to process payments has “been taken away from USAID,” the agency employee said.

— — —

You have to discount this a little bit because the employee is speaking anonymously. But, sounds serious.

The payment system taken over by Elon and his team of young hot shots. All (?) 6 of them, and please correct me if I'm wrong in this. And almost all of them young men in their early 20’s. And it looks like they're now the bottleneck!!!

 

[AgnosticBoy]

The payment system taken over by Elon and his team of young hot shots. All (?) 6 of them, and please correct me if I'm wrong in this. And almost all of them young men in their early 20’s. And it looks like they're now the bottleneck!!!

It's up to 100 now...

New York Post:

WASHINGTON — The Department of Government Efficiency now has about 100 staffers hunting for federal spending cuts, President Trump said Wednesday, as its leader Elon Musk plans to slash $1 trillion in expenditures.

“I want to commend Elon … They started off with 12. I call them 12 geniuses. They started off with 12, and they went to 20 and 25 and now they’re up to almost 100 people joining to help them,” Trump said Wednesday in the Oval Office.

One approach is, no abrupt changes. Take a solid medium step, and see how it goes. And take it from there.

The approach of DOGE on USAID has Elon's tech world approach written all over it - "Move fast and break things"

Following that motto you might get things done faster, but the ability to foresee unintended consequences will be decreased big time.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

New York Post:

“ . . . 100 staffers hunting for federal spending cuts . . ”

No, actually turning off the spigot, and only sporadically turning it back on.

They've even laid off some new employees from the NNSA, which is a nuclear safety agency. And now trying to hire back these probationary employees.

— — —

I think the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch of Fox News fame.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

They've even laid off some new employees from the NNSA, which is a nuclear safety agency. And now trying to hire back these probationary employees.

You're referring to this story... just found out about it...
According to Fox News

The Trump administration dismissed fewer than 50 workers from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) over the weekend

Reuters learned from sources on Friday that 325 NNSA workers were sent notices that they had been laid off from the agency, which is responsible for maintaining the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal.

Hours after receiving the notices on Friday, some of the layoffs were rescinded, creating a chaotic situation at NNSA offices in Washington, D.C., and other places around the country as many employees were worried about their employment status, sources told the wire service.

Scary as hell - literally!

I actually went to the Doge.gov website. I'm waiting for them to post some of their findings. While i'm sure there will be plenty of bad decisions made by Elon and Trump, but there will probably be some good. Like there's one report that we gave millions of $ worth of condoms to an African country. Is that money that we don't have or would Americans vote to approve that if they had the option?!

And I think this is a bipartisan problem btw. I'm sure it's been happening under various administrations for decades, just like immigration problems. But at least Trump is doing something about it the most it seems - at the least exposing the questionable spending.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Like there's one report that we gave millions of $ worth of condoms to an African country.

I'm going to contrast with spending likely to be doing some real good —

“People Will Die”: The Trump Administration Said It Lifted Its Ban on Lifesaving Humanitarian Aid. That’s Not True.

Organizations that provide vital care for desperate and vulnerable people around the world have been forced to halt operations, turn away patients and lay off staff. “I’ve never seen anything that scares me as much as this,” one doctor said.

www.propublica.org

Jan 31, 2025 —
“Children playing with kites on the Sudan-Chad border, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the war in Sudan. . . ”
“ . . . the staffers at a half dozen U.S.-funded medical facilities in Sudan who care for severely malnourished children had a choice to make: Defy President Donald Trump’s order to immediately stop their operations or let up to 100 babies and toddlers die.

“They chose the children. . . ”

“ . . . Among the programs that remain grounded as of Friday [Jan 31]: emergency medical care for displaced Palestinians and Yemenis fleeing war, heat and electricity for Ukrainian refugees and HIV treatment and mpox surveillance in Africa. . . ”

“ . . . Up through last week [Jan 24], PEPFAR was providing HIV treatment to an estimated 680,000 pregnant women, the majority of whom are in Africa. A 90-day stoppage could lead to an estimated 136,000 babies acquiring HIV, according to the amfAR analysis. Since HIV testing services are also suspended, many of those could go undiagnosed. . . ”

— — —

There's also a difference between

(1) not helping,

(2) and bailing on a person.

— — —

And if we pull out on many of these areas, China will be happy to move in and grab influence.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

@Multicolored Lemur

Those are good points to keep in mind when thinking about the spending. I guess i was thinking more in terms of how much is being spent and not so much on how much people it helps.

In my view, problematic spending is when...
1. Wasteful spending. Paying much more for something that you could get at a lower price.
2. Deficit spending. Spending more than what we can afford.

#2 on my list requires some tough decisions and ties into all of the good causes you mentioned. #2 just means we need to spend less or stay within budget. That could mean not paying even for good causes when we can't afford it. The alternative is to increase our debt and taxes which I wouldn't want nor would a lot of others.