NEW YORK TIMES
Samantha Power, a former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, hugs a supporter Thursday as employees gathered their personal belongings from the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.
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I am extremely distressed by Donald Trump’s efforts to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as an independent agency. I have worked alongside USAID workers in several countries in Latin America and the western Pacific over my United States Geological Survey career, in USAID-supported work to provide technical assistance after volcanic disasters or during pre-eruptive crises.
President John F. Kennedy established USAID in 1961 to demonstrate the humanitarian motives of America, and I was always very proud of my country when I saw that U.S. flag on those bags or boxes.
The Trump/DOGE efforts to dismiss over 10,000 dedicated domestic and international employees and to place the shattered remnants of USAID under the control of the State Department do not align with congressional intentions and laws. Does Congress care as America speeds toward imperialistic, totalitarian, dictatorial rule?
John Lockwood
Hilo
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