U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, called for a unified effort Monday to reject the Trump administration’s attempt to do away with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Schatz vowed a “blanket hold” on all the president’s State Department nominees until USAID is restored as an independent agency.
“Dismantling USAID is illegal and makes us less safe,” Schatz said in a statement released on Monday. “USAID was created by federal law and is funded by Congress. Donald Trump and Elon Musk can’t just wish it away with a stroke of a pen; they need to pass a law.
“Until and unless this brazenly authoritarian action is reversed and USAID is functional again, I will be placing a blanket hold on all of the Trump administration’s State Department nominees,” said Schatz, a ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs.
While Democrats do not have the numbers to reject Trump appointments outright, Senate rules make it possible for a single senator like Schatz to hold up the process. During confirmation votes, the Senate traditionally suspends the formal casting of individual votes in favor of a much more expeditious, unanimous consent vote. By voting no to unanimous consent, Schatz would be able to effectively grind the process to a near-halt, in much the same way Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., blocked U.S. Department of Defense nominees to protest U.S. policy allowing military personnel to be reimbursed for travel expenses related to accessing abortion services in another state.
Schatz was among a group of Democratic lawmakers and supporters who attempted to visit USAID’s Washington, D.C., headquarters on Monday but were blocked from entering.
The group, which swelled to more than a couple of hundred, instead demonstrated outside the building in support of the now-shuttered agency.
USAID is among several federal agencies targeted by Elon Musk and the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, which is helping to guide and execute Trump’s sweeping mandate to freeze international aid and reduce the size of the federal government.
Already, the USAID headquarters has been locked down, thousands of employees laid off and numerous programs around the world closed. USAID was established in 1961 by then-President John Kennedy as an independent agency charged with establishing and administering humanitarian aid programs around the world on behalf of the United States. The agency spends an estimated $40 billion — less than 1$ of the total U.S. budget — per year supporting health-related programs, famine detection and response and other efforts.
Trump has previously accused the agency of engaging in waste and fraud under the Biden administration.
In a press conference streamed live on Musk’s X Spaces, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt identified what she termed “insane priorities” that USAID has funded in recent years, including: “$1.5 million to advance DEO in Serbia workplaces, $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland and $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia.”
“I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going toward this crap and I know the American people don’t either and that’s exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do,” she said.
Shortly after Trump took office, new USAID appointees placed over 50 senior officials on official leave for unspecified investigation. USAID’s personnel chief defended the suspended officials and was promptly put on leave, too. Two more USAID security officials were placed on leave for refusing to turn over classified material to a Musk inspection team.
Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.
