Portland's Mercy Corps warns U.S. aid cuts will cost lives
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Mercy Corps, Portland's flagship humanitarian aid organization, is warning that federal cuts to its programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will have devastating consequences around the globe.
Why it matters: The abrupt cancellation of funding for aid programs at Mercy Corps — which provides clean drinking water, food and medical assistance to people in dozens of impoverished and war-torn countries — will be "destabilizing," the organization's CEO said, and will cost lives.
Catch up quick: President Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office halting funding to USAID and calling for a 90-day review of the agency's programs.
- Since then, thousands have been fired from the agency and several lawsuits have been filed seeking to have the congressionally allocated funding restored.
- On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 83% of the programs administered by USAID were canceled because the money was being spent "in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States."
- Later on Monday, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration did not have the power to withhold aid funding, but did not order payments for future work or the restoration of canceled contracts.
By the numbers: Last year, Mercy Corps got roughly 38% — about $250 million — of its annual funding from USAID, per its most recent financial statement.
- Mercy Corp's programs had the potential to reach millions of people this year, CEO Tjada D'Oyen McKenna said in a written statement.
- That includes clean drinking water for roughly 42,000 people in Ethiopia and meals for some 25,000 students in Liberia, where "food for hungry children across 146 schools is now spoiling," a Mercy Corps spokesperson told Axios.
- It was unclear whether any other aid groups would be able to fill the gap.
What they're saying: Randy Bluffstone, an economics professor at Portland State University who has worked on programs funded by USAID in countries like Nepal and Ethiopia, said the impact of these cuts will be far-reaching.
- He noted that every package of aid is typically labeled "from the American people," seen as a symbol of generosity around the world.
- "As an American in a country served by USAID, seeing those placards and bags is very emblematic," he said. "To take that away is, in my opinion, just a tragedy."
The bottom line: A spokesperson for Mercy Corps declined to say whether the cuts would result in layoffs in Portland, but D'Oyen McKenna said the reduction in aid will be a setback.
- "It will stop programs that help prevent youth radicalization by violent extremist groups," she said. "These programs not only saved lives, they prevented conflict and instability."