Earlier this year, the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in a move to streamline government. As an organization that provided financial support to various humanitarian initiatives globally, analysts projected that millions of people could die if the administration continues to cut foreign aid.
What is more, laid-off workers for the agency are still struggling to find jobs, with many saying in a recent survey that they had lost savings and retirement funds, access to health care, and housing, in addition to losing a career they were passionate about.
One woman who lost her job has, however, found a new home for her advocacy work.
“I was out of a job. And so during that period, I was quite in shock, depressed,” said Tina Balin, who is now a policy director at the Alliance for American Leadership, a bipartisan nonprofit that started in May as a response to the dismantling of USAID.
She told WTOP recently after being laid-off earlier this year that she was lost amid “trying to figure out what to do next with my life, because that was more than a job, it was a belief system.”
But thanks to the Alliance for American Leadership, she is going ahead with advocating for foreign policy. Asher Moss, who started the Alliance for American Leadership, said their goal is to, “pressure Congress to try to restore foreign aid programs.”
“It’s spending less than 1% of our budget to provide public health, education, governance, antipoverty programs across the world that not only save millions of lives but also make America respected,” Moss said to 7News last month.
“What’s happening now is that people who have long understood the importance of these programs, both for American national security and how we’re viewed around the world, are finally getting the chance to talk with the American people openly about why these programs are critical,” he said to WTOP this month.
The Alliance now has over 700 advocates across all 50 states, with Balin being one of them.
“I’m happy to have a home here where I can continue to advocate for the need for foreign aid, and explaining why it is such an important issue for Americans — not just our role around the globe, but our (own) growth and prosperity,” she said.
Moss is excited to have Balin on board. “Now, it’s just about growing from there. And I think that’s going to be continuing to do our normal outreach, person to person, as well as growing our campus chapters. Just getting to see more people recognizing what the alliance is doing and why it’s important to work together across the aisle on an issue that we all care about as Americans,” he said.
Earlier this year, then-Trump adviser Elon Musk called USAID a “criminal organization”, adding that it was “time for it to die.”
As part of efforts to trim government spending and reduce waste, the aid organization was the first to be targeted in the massive cuts that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made across the federal government.
Meanwhile, the U.S. doesn’t spend too much on foreign aid. USAID comprises less than 1% of the U.S. federal budget, about $40 billion a year, according to USA Today.
Several philanthropists including Bill Gates criticized Musk and the administration for the closure of USAID, saying that would lead to millions of children around the world losing their lives.
Curiously, a KFF poll in March revealed that two-thirds of Americans concur with Gates that getting rid of USAID will lead to more deaths, however, about 47% believe that dismantling it will “reduce the deficit and help fund domestic programs,” USA Today reported.
