WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons, member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the State Department would be cancelling 83% of programs at USAID:
“President Trump’s decisions are making America isolated, vulnerable, and less safe. The work of foreign assistance prevents China from expanding its influence, advances American interests, and prevents disasters before they reach our shores. It stops diseases like Ebola and Marburg from coming here and infecting Americans, stabilizes communities facing conflict so terrorists and extremists can’t take root and spread their poisonous ideology, and mitigates the recruitment efforts of traffickers who smuggle fentanyl and other drugs across our borders. The swift and dramatic shrinking of our footprint around the world is already empowering our adversaries and alarming our friends. This is another illegal move from an administration that has shown outright hostility to the rule of law and separation of powers.
“The funds saved by abruptly cancelling these programs will be swallowed up by Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires, but the chasm left behind in their absence will be felt for decades.”