Can Donald Trump and Marco Rubio close USAID and merge it into the State Department without Congress’ approval? Probably not.
But they can make it a lot smaller, and subject what’s left to microscopic scrutiny.
Late yesterday, the new Secretary of State informed 14,000 USAID employees that he’d need a few less of them to spread around a whole lot less money. A few being, er, roughly … 13,700 fewer:
President Donald Trump’s administration plans to keep fewer than 300 staff at the U.S. Agency for International Development out of the agency’s worldwide total of more than 10,000, four sources told Reuters on Thursday. …
The four sources familiar with the plan said only 294 staff at the agency would be allowed to keep their jobs, including only 12 in the Africa bureau and eight in the Asia bureau.
“That’s outrageous,” said J. Brian Atwood, who served as head…
