Lawmakers in both houses of Congress are set to review the Trump Administration’s dismantling of foreign aid during hearings tomorrow.
Here are five things the public must know ahead of these events:
- Through these actions, the world’s richest man is literally taking food and medicine from the mouths of the world’s poorest children.
- The Administration’s demolition of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has stopped more than $4 billion in aidthat fights malaria, tuberculosis and HIV in children, provides basic education, supplies clean water and sanitation, ensures maternal and infant health, protects children from sex trafficking, and offers other life-saving interventions.
- U.S. humanitarian and development assistance costs less than 1% of the federal budget, despite the Trump Administration’s efforts to cast this move as cost-cutting. Spending on international children’s programs accounts for just 0.09% of total federal spending.
- The U.N. AIDS agency estimates that by 2029, there could be 8.7 million people newly infected with HIV, a tenfold jump in AIDS-related deaths — to 6.3 million — and an additional 3.4 million children made orphans. In South Africa alone, a shutdown of PEPFAR aid is expected to result in the birth of 230 H.I.V.-positive babies per day.
- U.S. funding cuts are accelerating child trafficking, abuse and sexual exploitation.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hear testimony on USAID tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 13 at 8:30am. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is scheduled to review USAID funding Thursday, Feb. 13 at 10amET.