Closing USAID

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe that democrats have chosen this issue as a hill to die on. Shows how out of touch they are. Guess their flow of money is about to dry up.

This isn't a hill to die on. This is stopping a president from unilaterally closing an agency (created by statute by Congress) for no reason and firing thousands of federal workers as well as stopping congressionally appropriated funding directed to the agency, the employees, and to the work that the agency does.

If Biden did this, you would be up in arms. There will be a Democrat president in the future - should he have this power? No, of course not. Then why should Trump have it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

USAID is not the State Department - or at least, it didn't used to be and it is not designed to be. Do you know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe that democrats have chosen this issue as a hill to die on. Shows how out of touch they are. Guess their flow of money is about to dry up.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/06/trump-usaid-money-american-farms/

Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses




Because it is a stupid move that hurts our farmers and businesses.

Say it again for all the dumb dumbs in the back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

USAID is not the State Department - or at least, it didn't used to be and it is not designed to be. Do you know that?

But its employees absolutely treated as such while abroad - same benefits and entitlements. Same HR out of the embassy. They are USAID Foreign Sevice Officers.
https://fam.state.gov/fam/14fam/14fam0510.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

That's our fault??? They weren't hiding. Perhaps YOU should reexamine your news sources.

Who was on USAID board besides Samantha Powers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Do you have any idea what it is like to work in the conditions these government employees work in? Yes, having a place to rotate back to while in country is critically important. Having a safe place for your family is critically important. You are way overblowing how these people and their families are living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholic Relief Services shutting down programs and laying off staff.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/exclusive-catholic-relief-services-lays-staff-cuts-programs-after-usaid-shakeup?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR29YnvTmwIbdDJ1GnW_UZJRVMSGfLgcdQRcFFLjHK2eXKvK-nA1_SI1lRc_aem_2xEm_kI3fOOt-hdMbf4JPQ

This raises an interesting question: how much of these aid dollars result in material benefits to marginalized people and how much is to pay for staffing and other costs?

From the link:

CRS reaches more than 200 million people in 121 countries on five continents, according to its website

Among the programs and services provided by CRS: water and sanitation, education, agriculture, health, microfinancing, climate change resilience, as well as justice and peace-building programs in addition to emergency and disaster assistance.

CRS had 7,000 employees worldwide as of 2018 when it marked its 75th anniversary.

USAID math is always fuzzy and made up when you really dig in to what is going on.

Then why didn’t Congress hold hearings and investigate the agency, as they have authority to do? Why only now is USAID suddenly a target?

Because Elon is upset that USAID helped dismantle Apartheid 35 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whats worse - Politico leaking Dobbs last year or Poltico getting 8 million last year for "subscriptions"?

The fact that lots of government workers pay for subscription news sites, and that this is a work expense, was not secret. The spending was public on USASpending.gov

[Anonymous]

On CNN we played numerous examples of Rubio praising foreign aid as vital to American interests. We also revealed a letter he wrote to Biden in 2022 suggesting USAID's budget needed to be increased to counter Chinese Community Party influence around the globe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Democrats: “We are going to audit your $600 Venmo payment!”

Also Democrats: “No don’t audit USAID!”

LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe that democrats have chosen this issue as a hill to die on. Shows how out of touch they are. Guess their flow of money is about to dry up.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/06/trump-usaid-money-american-farms/

Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses




Because it is a stupid move that hurts our farmers and businesses.

Say it again for all the dumb dumbs in the back!

Sadly, farmers probably voted for Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Democrats: “We are going to audit your $600 Venmo payment!”

Also Democrats: “No don’t audit USAID!”

All federal entities are audited every year. There are no democrats opposed to audits.

what Musk is doing is not an audit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Do you have any idea what it is like to work in the conditions these government employees work in? Yes, having a place to rotate back to while in country is critically important. Having a safe place for your family is critically important. You are way overblowing how these people and their families are living.

I am not - I have first hand knowledge. If these places are so unsafe - they should be unaccompanied assignments. If they are so unsafe, maybe we should not have a US citizen (accompanied by their children) overseeing US taxpayer funded projects to put on drag shows in these countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Do you have any idea what it is like to work in the conditions these government employees work in? Yes, having a place to rotate back to while in country is critically important. Having a safe place for your family is critically important. You are way overblowing how these people and their families are living.

I am not - I have first hand knowledge. If these places are so unsafe - they should be unaccompanied assignments. If they are so unsafe, maybe we should not have a US citizen (accompanied by their children) overseeing US taxpayer funded projects to put on drag shows in these countries.

If you believe the bolded then you brainwashed and a lost cause.