A fiery group of about a dozen congressional Democrats blasted Elon Musk and President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon outside of USAID’s headquarters amid their attempts to shut down the overseas funding agency, claiming the rapidly unfolding events are causing chaos and harming national security.
The Democrats called the actions against USAID “illegal” and a “constitutional crisis” while vowing to take their defense of the agency to the courts.
“What Trump and Musk have done is not only wrong, it’s illegal,” said Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia during a news conference outside USAID headquarters. “USAID was established by an act of Congress, and it can only be disbanded by an act of Congress. Stopping this will require action by the courts and for Republicans to show up and show courage and stand up for our country.”
Beyer was joined by fellow Reps. Gerry Connolly, Eugene Vindman and Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia; Jamie Raskin, Johnny Olszewski and Sarah Elfreth of Maryland; and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Yassamin Ansari of Arizona.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Chris Murphy of Connecticut also spoke.
Schatz, who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, said earlier Monday that he’s placing a “blanket hold” Trump’s nominees for the State Department amid the USAID developments. Van Hollen said he’d commit to doing the same.
“Senator Schatz and I have talked, we’re all in this together,” he said.
The group of Democrats were flanked on Monday by about 100 federal workers and other advocates for U.S. agencies, including a number of USAID employees and contractors.
The Democratic lawmakers argued on Monday that USAID’s work is crucial for counterterrorism, disease prevention and providing humanitarian aid globally.
“We’re here today, not only to fight for federal employees who dedicate themselves every day to a humanitarian task. We are here to save lives, because that is what USAID does,” said Connolly, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee. “You name it, USAID is there in the fight against HIV, in the fight to protect the Uyghur population in China, in the fight to protect refugees, in the fight to make sure that there’s food security everywhere … It is the lead development agency in the world, and no one elected Elon Musk to dismantle it.”
“We are going to fight in every way we can in the courts, in public opinion, with the bully pulpit, in the halls of Congress, and here at USAID itself. We are not going to let this injustice happen,” Connolly added.
They also condemned Musk’s actions as illegal and detrimental to the nation’s interests.
“Elon Musk, you didn’t create USAID. The United States Congress did for the American people … like Elon Musk did not create USAID, he doesn’t have the power to destroy it. And who’s going to stop him? We are,” Raskin said.
“This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today,” he added.
McGovern also criticized Musk.
“This is a brazen attempt by a billionaire who nobody voted for, to illegally and unconstitutionally steal from taxpayers so he can give himself a tax break,” McGovern said.
Van Hollen highlighted the broader implications of these actions against USAID for U.S. foreign policy and national security.
“Make no mistake, this effort by Elon Musk and so-called DOGE to shut down the Agency for International Development is an absolute gift to our adversaries, to Russia, to China, to Iran and others, because USAID is an essential instrument of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. national security policy. So this has nothing to do with making the U.S. government more efficient, and everything to do with aiding and abetting our adversaries around the world,” Van Hollen said.
Subramanyam, the chair of the Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs said he would “call for hearings, and we will ask for answers” pertaining to the USAID developments.
“We will demand answers on why this is happening, but most importantly, we will not let it happen,” he said.
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