Senator Murray Statement on Trump Admin Illegally Firing USAID Staff
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on the Trump administration taking action Sunday to permanently eliminate 1,600 USAID employees’ positions and put nearly every other agency employee on administrative leave—in flagrant violation of the law.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to unilaterally shutter USAID—with their latest announcement of permanent reductions in force for 1,600 positions—are a dangerous concession to our adversaries who will fill the void we leave behind. It is a slap in the face to the dedicated Americans who have honorably chosen to serve their country and help keep us all safe.
“Trump and Musk’s reckless actions are also illegal. USAID’s existence as an independent agency has long been enshrined in law and affirmed by bipartisan majorities year after year in annual appropriations. Our appropriations law also requires the administration to notify and consult with Congress before undertaking any efforts to reorganize, realign, or downsize USAID—as the sweeping reductions in force issued Sunday and all the other brazen actions we’ve seen clearly seek to do. These actions make waste and fraud more likely, will prevent even foreign assistance programs supported by the administration from being effectively implemented, and will illegally block hundreds of millions of dollars for other programs enacted into law by bipartisan majorities.
“Needless to say: the Trump administration has not consulted Congress on these changes—in flagrant violation of the law—and the reckless, indiscriminate gutting of the agency seriously weakens America’s credibility and our ability to advance our national security interests across the globe.”
Section 7063 of Division F of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-47) prohibits funds from the Act and prior Acts from being used to implement a reorganization without prior consultation with, and a detailed and justified notification to, the appropriate congressional committees. A reorganization, redesign, or other such plan is further defined in the Act and includes any activity to expand, eliminate, consolidate, or downsize covered departments or agencies, the United States official presence overseas, or the size of the permanent Civil Service, Foreign Service, eligible family member, and locally employed staff workforce from staffing levels previously justified to the Committee on Appropriations for fiscal year 2024.
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