As Congress is considering the Big Beautiful Bill on Capitol Hill, they are also looking at codifying the cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, spearheaded by Elon Musk until recently. However, the cuts Republicans seek to codify are a small portion of DOGE’s total identified cuts: $9 billion out of the total claimed savings of $175 billion. To put that into perspective, a savings of $9 billion would save just 0.13% of total FY2024 federal spending.
President Trump gave Elon Musk a golden key emblazoned with the White House
insignia at the Oval Office on Friday.Credit...Haiyun Jiang for The New York
Times
The cuts Republicans seek to codify include $8.3 billion in foreign assistance, from USAID and the African Development Foundation, and $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. However, before examining what these cuts will impact, it’s important to note that these funds have already started to be cut off by DOGE. In fact, about 83% of USAID’s programs have already been cancelled by Trump. Additionally, about $535 million in funding to PBS and NPR has started to be cancelled by the executive branch. Subsequently, numerous lawsuits have been filed alleging that the President has no authority to cut funding from USAID and the CPB because it is funding authorized by Congress to an independent agency and a nonprofit corporation.
To start with, the $8.3 billion in foreign assistance Republicans seek to cut includes funding to USAID. USAID spent $21.7 billion in FY2024, so if the bulk of the cuts in foreign assistance is from cuts to the agency, the Republicans’ plan would cut about 38% from USAID’s budget. About 3 in 5 foreign assistance dollars are distributed by USAID and the majority of the assistance, about $16 billion in FY2023, goes to help Ukraine. Assuming the bulk of the savings would come from cutting USAID spending, it seems likely that cutting $8.3 billion from the agency would impact the US’ assistance to Ukraine while it actively defends itself against Russia.
In fact, since the dismantling of USAID has already begun, we can see how the dismantling of USAID has hurt Ukraine. For instance, according to the Ukrainian outlet Suspilne, dozens of humanitarian projects were paused in Mykolaiv, a Ukrainian city regularly attacked by Russia. In the Mykolaiv region, more than 70 institutions and public organizations were left without USAID support. Infrastructure recovery in Khmelnytskyi, where Russia has been attacking energy infrastructure, was slowed according to local officials. Many Ukrainian media outlets countering Russian misinformation, including Ukrainer, have lost funding they received from USAID. However, instead of identifying instances where USAID funds were used not to their liking in Ukraine, Republicans have identified grants worth at most $1 million to initiatives in other countries, grants that are a small portion of USAID’s budget. These relatively small grants are what Republicans will use to justify the shuttering of America’s soft power throughout the world being codified into law.
Transfer of more than 10 tons of vegetable seeds to more than 200 thousand
households in frontline and de-occupied communities under the USAID
Agricultural and Rural Development Program in Kyiv region, northern Ukraine,
on March 12, 2024.Photographer: Volodymyr Tarasov/Ukrinform/Future
Publishing/Future Publishing/Getty Images
Similarly, Republicans have proposed cutting funding to the US African Development Foundation, another independent agency. However, unlike USAID, the foundation does not cost billions of dollars but instead only costs $60 million to invest in African social entrepreneurs and grassroots enterprises. The investments by the US African Development Foundation primarily address low energy access, unemployment, and food insecurity in Africa.
In addition to the foreign assistance cuts, Republicans seek to codify cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) into law. The Corporation of Public Broadcasting primarily allocates their $535 million in funds to locally owned public television and radio stations via PBS and NPR. Trump is reportedly proposing the rescission of $1.1 billion, two years worth of funding, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Congress. If these cuts are codified into law, PBS and NPR would either have to raise more money from local communities to make up for the difference or cut funding to local stations. This could have a devastating impact on our media environment today.
The PBS headquarters in Arlington, Va. In a statement, the network said it
had “reached the conclusion that it was necessary to take legal action to
safeguard public television’s editorial independence.”Credit...Kayla
Bartkowski/Getty Images
Overall, the codification of the DOGE cuts that Congress is proposing could have devastating impacts on America’s soft power, ceding ground to the US’ adversaries like China. It would also likely devastate aid to Ukraine and locally owned public television/radio stations. Make sure to call your local congressperson and senator to give your opinion on these proposed devastating cuts.