Cutting foreign aid funding isn't just bad for our allies — it’s bad for America

The future of U.S. foreign assistance, which we’ve been providing since 1812, is in jeopardy.

The Trump administration froze all U.S. foreign assistance on Jan. 24 except for some military support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently announced a waiver for lifesaving humanitarian aid, but that waiver isn't self-executing, and humanitarian programs are finding they can't access it. They have been issued stop-work orders — practically speaking, their funding is suspended too.

“We get tired of giving massive amounts of money to countries that hate us, don’t we?” President Trump said last week. But U.S. foreign aid prior to Trump suspending it was less than 1 percent of the U.S. federal budget, or about 0.3 percent of our gross national product.

That’s hardly massive, and it’s a much smaller percentage than most of our allies give. In fact, compared to foreign assistance levels provided by wealthier countries of the world, the U.S. ranked near the bottom of the list. Before the administration froze U.S. aid, just about every other wealthy Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development country was more generous with aid than we were. Now, everyone is.

Last week, like many nonprofits and many universities around the world, I received word that U.S. support for several of our projects at the American University in Bulgaria were suspended immediately. Far from being a “country that hates us,” Bulgaria, a former communist satellite, is a new democracy and a U.S. ally.

One of our projects whose funding is suspended addresses the need for media literacy. It equips young Bulgarians with critical thinking skills to navigate the increasingly complex information landscape, strengthening societal defenses against disinformation. This is a very pressing concern in this part of the world, where Russian propaganda is pervasive.

Another project whose U.S. aid is suspended involves educating for democracy. It organizes citizen assemblies to educate youth leaders from Bulgaria and around Eastern Europe about civil rights and to encourage democratic engagement.

Globally, development assistance helps build a more educated, healthy and peaceful world. In the past 30 years, foreign aid has helped reduce poverty and boost life expectancy dramatically. U.S. assistance for international health programs has slashed deaths from HIV, malaria and many other infectious diseases. Over 26 million people are alive today because of U.S.-funded PEPFAR programs.

U.S. aid supporting female education has had important local, national and global impacts. When more girls and women have the opportunity for education, infant and child mortality declines, families are smaller and healthier, economic growth increases and corruption is reduced.

Surely all this is in the U.S. national interest. Aren’t democracy, health, education and opportunity American values?

Throughout our history, U.S. foreign aid has expressed American ideals and furthered our interests in countries of economic, strategic and geopolitical importance to us. Countries that are democratic and supportive of human rights are less likely to suffer civil violence or make war on their neighbors.

Though currently much maligned, foreign aid has long bolstered U.S. national interests and global leadership. We should be deepening, not destroying, our relationships with other countries and their citizens. By cutting foreign aid for the wrong reasons and at the wrong time, the Trump administration risks undermining allies, shriveling our moral authority, and pushing countries into the embrace of totalitarian meddlers such as China and Russia.

Instead, the U.S. should build and nurture relationships with other countries. One way to do that is to reinstate federal programs that were widespread 50 years ago, which let students, faculty, business and government leaders, researchers and teachers come to the U.S. for training; enabled American educators to teach, train and learn in other countries; and helped us better understand one another.

For example, USAID’s Participant Training Programs of the 1960s and 1970s trained many thousands of people from Asia, Africa and Latin America in U.S. universities. In turn, those universities benefitted from having students and scholars, entrepreneurs and government officials from around the world on their campuses. As a result, U.S. universities, especially our great land grant universities, helped shape agriculture, education, medicine and business all over the world.

Universities educate for democracy. They teach the next generation of leaders how to think critically and creatively, and how to apply their knowledge and skills to building a more democratic, just and sustainable world.

Past U.S. administrations have played a valuable role in supporting them. But now they are widely under attack. Without the foundation universities provide, democracies are likely to slip rapidly into one or another form of tyranny.

Congress needs to reassert its authority and do its constitutionally mandated job by stopping the Trump administration from mindlessly cutting foreign aid. Those who have worked on Capitol Hill and understand the value of these programs need to speak out, even if it has become dangerous to do so. We must find common ground in truly serving the U.S. national interest.

Margee Ensign, Ph.D., is president of the American University in Bulgaria and former director of USAID's Development Studies program coordinated through Tulane University.

Topics

In private credit, liquidity is bad

And China’s currency peg
Financial Times - 12h
Iran praises U.S. for cutting foreign aid funding

Iran’s government seems to be welcoming some recent decisions by the United States — even though they happen to come from a man Iranian operatives have allegedly been plotting to assassinate.
NBC News - 1d
Why Trump tariffs will be ‘very bad for America and for the world’

If enacted tariffs will increase inflation, slow economic growth, and result in US consumers footing the bill . As Donald Trump threatens to slap steep tariffs on many countries, he is boasting ...
The Guardian - 6d
Trump’s foreign aid freeze sparks global funding crisis

Dramatic repercussions have exposed reach of US assistance and soft power tools disparaged by the president
Financial Times - Jan. 30
Funding for AIDS relief program to stop after foreign aid pause

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, provides billions in funding to organizations to combat HIV.
CBS News - Jan. 26
Foreigners are chasing U.S. stocks. Historically, that’s a bad sign.

Foreigners have a tendency to buy U.S. stocks right before crashes.
MarketWatch - Jan. 24
Column: The narco musical 'Emilia Pérez' isn't as bad as critics say — it's worse

'Emilia Pérez' thinks it's in a transgressive tradition. Instead, it turns out like every other narco movie. The director falls for one of the worst stereotypes.
Los Angeles Times - Jan. 23
JPMorgan Just Decided That Employee Feedback Doesn’t Matter. It’s a Spectacularly Bad Decision

Turning off employee comments makes the disagreement appear to go away, but it only goes underground. This is bad for morale — and your compliance with the law.
Inc. - Jan. 13
Fast fashion is an addiction. Secondhand mania may be just as bad | Chloë Hamilton

I loved to scour apps and charity shops for cheap clothes and toys – but now I know it is another kind of overconsumption. ‘Guess how much this was,” I say to my partner mischievously, revealing ...
The Guardian - Jan. 10

Cutting foreign aid funding isn't just bad for our allies — it’s bad for America

Topics

Related

In private credit, liquidity is bad

Iran praises U.S. for cutting foreign aid funding

Why Trump tariffs will be ‘very bad for America and for the world’

Trump’s foreign aid freeze sparks global funding crisis

Funding for AIDS relief program to stop after foreign aid pause

Foreigners are chasing U.S. stocks. Historically, that’s a bad sign.

Column: The narco musical 'Emilia Pérez' isn't as bad as critics say — it's worse

JPMorgan Just Decided That Employee Feedback Doesn’t Matter. It’s a Spectacularly Bad Decision

Fast fashion is an addiction. Secondhand mania may be just as bad | Chloë Hamilton

More from The Hill

Elites, criminal networks and aid failures drive the immigration crisis

Live updates: Courts pause federal buyouts, rule against Trump on birthright citizenship

Federal judge pauses Trump federal worker buyouts

Judge rails against Trump in blocking birthright executive order for second time

Satisfaction with attitudes toward LGBTQ people lowest since 2013: Survey

More in Politics

Elites, criminal networks and aid failures drive the immigration crisis

Live updates: Courts pause federal buyouts, rule against Trump on birthright citizenship

Judge temporarily halts Trump federal buyout program

Federal judge pauses Trump federal worker buyouts

Judge rails against Trump in blocking birthright executive order for second time