SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The past day has brought more news about the Trump administration's efforts to shut down or dramatically change parts of the federal government. A judge has temporarily stopped Elon Musk and his DOGE team from getting access to sensitive treasury department records, and last night, President Trump named himself head of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. We begin now with the move to shut down the United States Agency for International Development.
The 60-year-old agency manages most of America's foreign aid programs, but the Trump administration has paused all foreign assistance and put the agency's 13,000 employees on administrative leave. Yesterday a judge stepped in to block that administrative leave order from more than 2,000 of the employees. NPR global health correspondent Fatma Tanis joins us. Fatma, thanks so much for being with us.
FATMA TANIS, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.
SIMON: You've been speaking to many USAID employees. How did they react?
TANIS: Well, Scott, people are distraught. You know, since the inauguration, I've been talking to senior officials, agency staff, both here and overseas. And they didn't want to reveal their names because they're not authorized to speak to the press, and some were afraid of being targeted by the administration. They say that, effectively, one of the biggest aid agencies in the world doesn't exist anymore. They're shocked at the dizzying speed in which things have unraveled, and they say the way that they are being treated by the administration has also been shocking.
Many people have lost access to their government accounts and emails. The ones staffed overseas have been ordered back to the U.S. in 30 days, and they say they feel completely abandoned by their government. You know, many are in conflict zones. They're concerned about their personal security. They're told to come back, but they don't have homes in the U.S. or jobs or insurance, and some are pregnant close to their due date, so their delivery plans have also been upended.
SIMON: How does yesterday's order from a federal judge about the agency affect USAID and its workers?
TANIS: So last night, a federal judge issued a temporary pause on the administration's move to put 2,200 people on administrative leave. Now, those are union foreign service officers who filed the suit. The judge also reinstated 500 people who were already put on leave. And he paused the accelerated return of overseas staff that was supposed to happen this weekend. Now, this was all pushed back until next Friday, and in the meantime, there will be a hearing next week on the legality of the administration's overall moves to dismantle the agency.
SIMON: Why's the administration focusing on USAID?
TANIS: Well, President Trump is accusing the agency of corruption and fraud. No evidence has been provided to the public on that. He and his adviser, Elon Musk, say that they want to shrink the federal government and the budget. Analysts say USAID is an easy target because it works overseas. Americans are less aware of what it does. And analysts say what's happening here is a playbook for the administration's plans for other agencies.
But USAID has typically enjoyed bipartisan support for its projects, and some Republicans I've talked to are saying that there will be cascading consequences from all of this. Andrew Natsios is a former administrator of USAID who served under George W. Bush, and he said Americans don't realize how influential USAID was. Its logo, for example, had the American flag on aid packages distributed all over the world, and it said, from the American people.
ANDREW NATSIOS: I see foreign aid as an essential instrument of American national power to protect our country and people who are our allies and friends in the developing world. It's in both of our interests to do that.
TANIS: Now, one of the agency's key functions was helping with disease control. You'll remember the Ebola outbreak in 2014. So USAID worked to contain that. And they also supported programs curbing migration in Latin American countries, for example, which is one of the - this administration's key goals.
SIMON: Where does this leave many of the aid groups who worked with USAID?
TANIS: You know, Scott, the entire humanitarian aid industry is totally shaken by this. USAID partnered with NGOs, contractors to do the work that Congress allocated money for. And since the foreign aid freeze, no one's been getting paid by the U.S., not even for work that they already did back in December and January before all of this. So they're owed millions of dollars.
Now this has put everyone in a really bad spot. Thousands of people have lost their jobs in the past couple of weeks. And many of these companies, including some of the big aid groups, don't know if they will survive if the U.S. doesn't fulfill its contractual duties. So it's really not looking good for aid groups right now and for the people around the world who depended on their help.
SIMON: NPR's Fatma Tanis. Thanks so much for being with us.
TANIS: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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