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marco rubio
Congressional Office Says Trump Has No Authority to Dismantle USAID
The same day the report was released, billionaire Elon Musk said that he was working to shut down the agency with U.S. President Donald Trump's blessing.
Feb 04, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump does not have the authority to abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to a Congressional Research Service report published Monday, which noted that congressional authorization is needed to "abolish, move, or consolidate" the humanitarian assistance agency.
The report was release the same day that billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tapped by Trump to help lead his administration's efforts to cut spending and bureaucracy through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), said he was seeking to shut down the agency, which is known as USAID. Musk, who said he had received Trump's blessing to do so, made the remarks during a live discussion on X.
Also Monday, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had taken over as acting director of the agency.
"Secretary Rubio has also now notified Congress that a review of USAID's foreign assistance activities is underway with an eye towards potential reorganization," according to statement from the State Department.
The Trump administration implemented a 90-day freeze on nearly all foreign aid during its first week, and days later placed dozens of senior USAID staffers on leave. Two top security officials at USAID were removed by the administration over the weekend after they refused representatives with DOGE access to restricted spaces at the agency.
According to the congressional report, the White House can make make structural changes to USAID and to the State Department, such as shifting functions from one agency to the other. However, the administration is supposed to notify and consult "appropriate congressional committees" prior to making changes, and "in the past, administrations have implemented such changes only after this notification."
The report states that some members of Congress had raised concerns over Trump's halting of foreign aid and the administration's removal of USAID officials, and that news of the "administration's actions to subsume USAID into the State Department may deepen such concerns and raise new questions" about the administration's adherence to consultation requirements and use of funds appropriated for USAID.
"Members on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees, in particular, might elect to seek more information about these actions from the administration through congressional hearings, letters, and informal communications," wrote the author of the report.
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Trump Admin Reportedly Implements Widespread Freeze on Foreign Aid—Except to Israel and Egypt
"Guess which country was exempted…?" wrote the investigative outlet Drop Site News.
Jan 24, 2025
The State Department on Friday reportedly issued guidance that it is freezing almost all U.S. foreign assistance—with exceptions for emergency food aid and foreign military financing for two U.S. allies, Israel and Egypt—according to a cable obtained by multiple outlets.
"Guess which country was exempted....?" wrote the investigative outlet Drop Site, in response to the cable, which independent journalist Ken Klippenstein shared on social media.
The aid carve out for Israel follows 15 months of nearly unqualified U.S. support for the Israeli government during its military campaign on the Gaza Strip, which began after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, and led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, according to the local health officials. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Sunday, but Israel has since then attacked the city of Jenin in the West Bank.
Other traditional U.S. allies, like Ukraine and Taiwan, are not listed among the waivers to the pause. Trump has been a longtime critic of NATO, which Ukraine hopes to join, and has been critical of the scale of U.S. support for Ukraine as it battles an invasion by Russia.
On Monday, his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order calling for a 90-day pause on U.S. foreign development assistance in order to assess "programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy." But this latest memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent to embassies worldwide, further fleshes out that directive.
The U.S. "shall not provide foreign assistance funded by or through the department and USAID without the secretary of state's authorization or the authorization of his designee," according to the cable, which was referring to the United States Agency for International Development.
Additionally, "no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance until such times as the secretary shall determine, following a review" and "for existing foreign assistance awards, contracting officers and grant officers shall immediately issue stop-work orders."
Politico, which also obtained Rubio's memo, reported that "it had not been clear from the president's [Monday] order if it would affect already appropriated funds or Ukraine aid. The new guidance means no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the U.S. government, according to three current and two former officials familiar with the new guidance."
"State just totally went nuclear on foreign assistance," one State Department official toldPolitico.
In fiscal year 2023, the most recent year with complete government reporting, the U.S. spent $68 billion in foreign aid obligations, on topics ranging from economic development, to health and the environment. Ukraine was the top recipient of foreign aid that year, with $17 billion obligated, and Israel came in second, with $3.3 billion.
According to The Associated Press, which also obtained the cable, the order was particularly disappointing to humanitarian officials who hoped that health clinics and other health programs worldwide would be spared from the funding freeze.
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Celebrating the Gaza Cease-Fire and Pledging to Defend It
We must push for successful completion of all three phases of the cease-fire agreement and remove conditions within the U.S. that have enabled the genocide.
Jan 24, 2025
Veterans For Peace joins the people of Gaza in rejoicing at the cease-fire that has brought a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Palestinian children, women, and men, and their churches, their mosques, their schools, and hospitals. At least 50,000 have been killed in a cold-blooded massacre and over 100,000 injured, many losing their limbs. But the huge smiles on the faces of the children of Gaza and their shouts of joy since the cease-fire went into effect were a deeply profound thing to witness.
But just how real is the Gaza cease-fire? How enduring will it be? Many close observers of Israel are skeptical. In his recent article, “The Cease-fire Charade,” Chris Hedges, renowned war correspondent and VFP Advisory Board member writes:
Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants—in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza—but Israel habitually fails to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable peace. It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a provocation, and abrogates the cease-fire deal to reignite the slaughter. If this latest three-phase cease-fire deal is ratified it will, I expect, be little more than a presidential inauguration bombing pause. Israel has no intention of halting its merry-go-round of death.
While we rejoice at the pause in the U.S.-Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, we recognize that the following underpinnings of the genocide remain unchanged:
- U.S. provision of weapons and services for those weapons to Israel in violation of a variety of U.S. laws, including the Leahy Law;
- U.S. deployment of military personnel in support of the genocide through servicing weapons provided to Israel; flying air attacks against Yemeni and Syrian people; flying MQ-9 Reaper drone surveillance missions to aid Israeli air attacks against Palestinians, Yemenis and, likely, Lebanese;
- Repression by U.S. colleges and universities against students and faculty who have acted so courageously and effectively to educate the U.S. public about the U.S.-Israeli genocide and have led in calling for divestment from Israel and from U.S. weapons makers who have been making billions in supporting the genocide;
- The silence of U.S. hospital systems about the genocide and repression of their staff members who are speaking out in solidarity with their sister and brother Palestinian medical workers who have been killed, jailed, humiliated, and whose hospitals have been destroyed and deprived of fuel, medicine, food, and safety. Evidence of this silence is the formation and growing popularity of Doctors Against Genocide;
- The cooperation of major U.S. press organizations with genocide in failing to report fully on the suffering of the Palestinian people and accepting without significant critique the narrative of the Israeli government; and
- The constitutionally-protected ability of weapons makers and other corporations to exercise dangerous influence in every segment of society and public opinion by lobbying legislators at every level of government, writing legislation, advertising, plying educational institutions with desperately needed funding, contributing to community events, keeping information hidden from the public, and investing in electoral campaigns.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not rejoicing at the cease-fire agreement. He immediately declared that former U.S. President Joe Biden and current President Donald Trump both told him he will have their support whenever he decides to resume the Gaza onslaught.
Fueling concerns about the durability of the Gaza cease-fire are Israel’s escalating attacks on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, its daily violations of the cease-fire in Lebanon, and its continuing efforts to draw the U.S. into a war against Iran.
Ominously, on his first day in office, President Trump removed the sanctions on West Bank settlers who have attacked Palestinian civilians, and reversed Biden’s “pause” of sending 2,000 pound bombs to Israel. And then there are these recent statements from Trump’s inner circle:
During his confirmation hearing for U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio strongly defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza while sharply condemning the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a senator, Rubio was a strong supporter of the criminal actions of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
During her confirmation hearing on January 22, 2025, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik said that while Palestinian people deserve human rights, Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank. She would not answer whether the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination.
“I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” testified Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, at his Senate confirmation hearing. And Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz declared that he is committed to the complete defeat of Hamas. That sounds very much like the failed logic of the Biden administration and Israel’s war on Gaza. When will they ever learn?
Despite its uncertain fate, the Gaza cease-fire is nonetheless a precious victory for the Palestinian people, and must be defended. Just look again at the joyous faces of the Palestinian children. This is another stage in the Palestinian struggle for liberation from colonial oppression and genocide. Peace-loving people everywhere must therefore remain vigilant. We must push for successful completion of all three phases of the cease-fire agreement. We must remove conditions within the U.S. that have enabled the genocide.
Veterans For Peace has consistently called on the U.S. government to stop sending U.S. bombs and war materials to Israel. We have encouraged legal action against the Biden administration for violating U.S. and international laws when it sends weapons to a country that is committing gross human rights violations. We believe that the quickest, most effective way to stop the genocide in Gaza—and to preserve the cease-fire—is to cut off the flow of U.S. weapons to Israel.
Furthermore, we stand ready to give our full support to U.S. military personnel who choose not to be party to genocide. We will continue to support students, teachers, medical workers, and others who are compelled by their consciences to take stands against genocide and for freedom for the Palestinian people. We call on all reporters and editors to report fully on the experience of the Palestinian people.
We demand that the Trump administration and the Israeli government respect the hard-won Gaza cease-fire, that they permanently end the carnage in Gaza and the West Bank, that they cease the occupation of Palestinian land, and that they end the oppression of the Palestinian people. We call on all peace-loving people to join us in defending the righteous struggle of the Palestinian people for their freedom and sovereignty.
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