Musk Trumpets Taking Trump Onboard to Shutdown USAID

Elon Musk and Donald Trump Image credit X.com
Global Outcry Over Trump Trashing USAID, Stoppage of Aid Budget
By Raisina Correspondent
New Delhi, February 3: Billionaire Elon Musk told Space on X that he got US President Donald Trump onboard for plan to shutdown USAID. Reports said that X account of USAID has also been suspended.
The move of the US under Trump administration to shutdown is inviting global outcry, from Afghanistan to Nepal, over Washington abandoning developmental aids.
“Musk has convinced Trump to officially shut down USAID and terminate all USAID-foreign aid to charities. Founded by JFK, USAID has been a beacon of U.S. leadership and soft power,” said Eric Feigl-Ding, a US-based health activist, in a post on X.
Trump Era Most Significant Shifts in IR Since Fall of Soviet Union
He stated that “many legal experts have argued shuttering USAID violates a law adopted by Congress establishing the agency, and violates laws against impounding Congressionally approved funds”.
NBC News in a report said that Musk claimed on Monday that he and Trump were in the process of shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The US media outlet said that the move is a move to “escalate their war on the federal bureaucracy and defying the constitutional power of Congress to determine how money is spent”.
Trump with an Executive Order established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk is heading DOGE. It aims to modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.
Musk revealed during an audio-only Space on X that Trump agreed to his idea of shutting down USAID. “We’re shutting it down. We’re in the process of shutting down USAID,” Musk said during his conversations on Space of X.
China’s Wang Yi Tells Trump’s Rubio ‘Hope You Behave Yourself…’
However, the billionaire has not yet clarified the legal architecture under which USAID will be shut down. Congress had set up USAID, which over the years has become the American identity in many developing nations.
“The idea to shut down the USAID has the full support of the president,” said Musk, adding that he spoke to Trump on the issue on several occasions.
The billionaire also expounded during the audio programme on X, saying: “With regard to the USAID stuff, I went over with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down. I actually checked with him a few times.”
The Kathmandu Post in a report said that several health programmes in Nepal are also facing disruptions due to the sudden stoppage of the US funding programme. “The budget of several other health programmes, including the outbreak investigation training for doctors and a planned nationwide human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination drive, among others, has also been suspended,” said the Nepalese daily. It added details of further disruptions in essential health initiatives.
The Kathmandu-based daily quoted Dr Shyam Raj Upreti, former director general of the Department of Health Services, saying: “Achievements made over the years through huge investments in neonatal care could be jeopardised by this abrupt budget cut. The suspension of crucial programmes is a serious blow to our efforts to reduce neonatal deaths.”
Join the WhatsApp Channel of The Raisina Hills
Follow on Google News https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMNK2vwsw39HWAw?hl=en-IN&gl=IN&ceid=IN%3Aen