Key Points
Democrats vow legal fight against USAID closure
Foreign aid crucial for US strategic interests
Lawmakers challenge Musk's authority to shut agency
They took aim at President Donald Trump's adviser Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who announced the decision on Monday, questioning his authority.
"We are not going to let this injustice happen", Senator Brian Schatz said on Monday in Washington with demonstrators holding up signs denouncing the closure of USAID.
"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", he said.
As China increases its aid and lending programmes around the world for its strategic interests, USAID is an important pillar of Washington's efforts to counter it.
Senator Chris Van Hollen said Musk's effort to shut down USAID is "an absolute gift to our adversaries, to Russia, to China, to Iran and others because aid is an essential instrument of US foreign policy and US national security policy".
He quoted an X post by former Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev calling Musk closing down USAID a "smart move".
About Musk's connections to China, he cited former DOGE co-head Vivek Ramaswamy's allegations that the Tesla boss was a China "puppet" who would respond to President Xi Jinping's requests.
USAID's work goes "hand-in-hand with our military to counter terrorism and to stabilise dangerous regions", Representative Don Beyer said.
Congress created USAID in 1961 and "it's a matter for Congress to deal with, not an unelected billionaire oligarch that is Elon Musk", Schatz said.
USAID's work goes "hand-in-hand with our military to counter terrorism and to stabilise dangerous regions", Representative Don Beyer said.
