WASHINGTON: Former USAID chief Samantha Power blasted President Donald Trump on Friday over his dismantling of the humanitarian agency, saying the move threatened America’s national security and standing around the world.
“We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in US history,” Power, who led USAID throughout former president Joe Biden’s term, wrote in the New York Times.
USAID runs health and emergency programmes in around 120 countries, including the world’s poorest regions.
“America’s superpower”
It is seen as a vital source of soft power for the United States in its struggle for influence with rivals including China.
Power dubbed the agency “America’s superpower” in a scathing opinion piece.
“We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in US history,” said Power.
Ruling
The statement followed a ruling in which a US judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from placing 2,200 workers at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave, hours before it was due to happen.
According to BBC, Judge Carl Nichols issued a “limited” temporary restraining order, in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions trying to save the agency.
The order will remain in place for a week, until 14 February at midnight.
Trump has argued that USAID, the overseas aid agency, is not a valuable use of taxpayer money and wants to dismantle it – he plans to put nearly all of the agency’s 10,000 employees on leave, except 611 workers.
Administrative leave
The BBC also reported that some 500 staff had already been put on administrative leave and another 2,200 were due to join them from midnight on Friday (05:00 GMT).
But the last-minute lawsuit on Friday argued the government was violating the US Constitution, and also that the workers were suffering harm.
Judge Nichols sided with the unions, saying they would suffer “irreparable harm” if the court did not intervene, while there would be “zero harm to the government”.
