USAID is in the interest of America

Born and raised in Springfield, I am a proud graduate of Sacred Heart Academy and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Unfulfilled by my first job at Ernst & Whinney in Chicago, I searched for work that would contribute to a greater good and improve people’s lives. I joined the Peace Corps, and spent two years as a volunteer in Malawi, a country in southern Africa. There I worked on a USAID project supporting credit union cooperatives where members pooled their savings and borrowed against them. This modest project gave people hope. It enabled folks to pay school fees, giving their children an education and a chance for a better life. It helped them to start small businesses to support their families.

Inspired by this experience, I joined USAID, where I worked for more than 30 years, living in Rwanda, Guinea, Senegal, Ghana, Uganda, Ukraine and Armenia. I saw firsthand the difference that USAID programs made in peoples’ lives and the enormous goodwill they engendered. I also learned that USAID’s work benefits Americans. Working to build healthier, educated, democratic and economically successful societies abroad makes the United States healthier, more secure and more prosperous. 

USAID health programs help fight infectious disease and provide treatments and preventive measures that help avert millions of deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. When we help prevent disease abroad, by identifying and addressing emerging global health threats such as Ebola or bird flu, we also help keep the U.S. population safe and healthy and prevent these diseases from spreading to our shores.

USAID’s programs engage youth, create opportunity and, more importantly, provide alternatives to migration and lawlessness. Programs in Africa combine education with civic engagement opportunities to provide alternatives to extremism which threatens global security. Closer to home, USAID supported Chicago-based Heartland Alliance International in providing livelihood opportunities for victims of armed conflicts in Colombia and migrants from neighboring Venezuela –- until a few weeks ago when funding for their program was terminated. Without these programs that help connect them to jobs, these folks will be more inclined to migrate to the United States.

USAID also provides humanitarian assistance –- food, shelter and medical supplies –- to victims of disasters, providing power and water to people in Ukraine, and food to address the famine in Sudan. And the food aid that USAID provides –- more than 40% of it is purchased from American farmers.

USAID partners with U.S. businesses, including those in Illinois, to enhance livelihoods across the globe through activities that expand their markets and create American jobs. USAID’s partnership with John Deere helped Zambians mechanize their farming and increase productivity. It also built demand for John Deere machines in new markets and contributed to a more resilient global food chain.

USAID also partners with U.S. universities, three in Illinois. The U of I Soybean Innovation Lab, funded by USAID since 2013, identifies potential markets for soybeans in Africa and conducts research on African soybean diseases that helps U.S. farmers combat diseases that can decimate soybean crops. Recently the lab’s director, Dr. Peter Goldsmith, reported that his lab will close in April since USAID funding has been cut, resulting in letting go of a staff of 30. He said that U.S. soybean farmers will lose one of their best tools to expand their markets. 

I assure you that USAID is accountable to Congress and to the taxpayer. USAID does not make arbitrary decisions about how to spend its funds –- Congress appropriates USAID funding and allocates it for specific purposes. Are all of USAID’s programs effective? Certainly not. But USAID has several systems in place to review the effectiveness of its programs and to realign or terminate them if they are not achieving results. I know this well since, as a financial management officer in several USAID missions overseas, I was responsible for the financial oversight of USAID programs and operations. I worked closely with USAID’s inspector general, who provides another level of review and reports their results to Congress. 

 At less than 1% of the U.S. budget, U.S. Foreign Assistance is in the American interest. It promotes American values and goodwill between the United States and more than 100 partner countries. It provides more than 50,000 American jobs and invests billions annually in the American economy. It promotes American business overseas and educational and research partnerships that enhance American productivity. USAID’s work helps keep Americans safe by managing public health risks overseas. It promotes American security by providing economic opportunities as alternatives to migration or terrorism. USAID’s work represents the best that we are as American people.

The Trump Administration has essentially shuttered USAID, frozen life-saving assistance programs, and eliminated thousands of American jobs. I ask you, readers, to demand accountability from Senators Durbin and Duckworth and from your representatives. Demand that they stand up to the administration, to end the freeze on foreign assistance, and to insist that the administration respect the rule of law. Congress authorized the establishment of USAID. The executive branch cannot shut it down. USAID is in the interest of America.  

This article appears in The state of the state.