WASHINGTON – Maryland Rep. Johnny Olszewski and his Democratic colleagues at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Thursday condemned the Trump administration for attempting to dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“I think there is a well-established process that does not include wholesale elimination or pausing of funding,” Olszewski said.
There were several programs under the agency that should be investigated and might merit defunding, he said, but he reiterated that there was a legal process to follow in doing so that would not affect federal employees.
“By freezing funding without congressional intervention, the president has gone against both Article I (of the Constitution), which gives Congress the power of the purse, as well as the Impoundment Act of 1974,” Olszewski later told Capital News Service.
The Impoundment Act requires the president to give notice to and receive approval from Congress to not spend legally appropriated funds, Olszewski said.
The chairman of the foreign affairs panel, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Florida, vilified USAID, an agency created by President John F. Kennedy.
“Many of the people and many of the programs in USAID have literally betrayed America,” Mast charged. “America would have been better off if your money had been thrown into the fireplace.”
USAID administers humanitarian aid programs and offers development assistance internationally.
@cnsmaryland Capital News Service was there as a worker placed black tape over the name of the U.S. Agency for International Development outside of the agency’s headquarters near the White House earlier today. The woman told reporters she was unaffiliated with the agency. Today, following days of protests over the dismantling of the agency, President Donald Trump called for USAID, the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid, to be shut down. #usaid ♬ original sound – Capital News Service
The administration attempted to place over 2,000 USAID workers on administrative leave, but a Trump-appointed federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to block the move, and on Thursday extended the hold until Feb 21.
A group of current and former USAID employees filed a lawsuit in Baltimore federal court against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency Thursday to stop the dismantling of the agency.
Olszewski also addressed the Feb. 11 firing of the agency’s former Inspector General, Paul K. Martin, during the committee hearing. According to an email obtained by The Washington Post, Martin was notified by the White House that his position at USAID was “terminated, effectively immediately.”
“Inspector general firings, the president must provide Congress 30-day notice and ‘substantive rationale’ including detailed and case-specific reasons for the firing and to my knowledge that has not taken place,” Olszewski said.
Representatives from the Trump administration were not present at the panel hearing.