New York [US], February 8: US District Court Judge Carl Nichols on February 7 approved a decision requiring the US government to stop forcing thousands of employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to take leave, Reuters reported.
About 2,200 of the employees are directly employed by USAID. About 500 employees had previously been furloughed. USAID has also furloughed or laid off many seasonal employees, who make up the bulk of the agency's workforce.
On February 4, a notice was sent to full-time employees that USAID was planning to pay for overseas staff to return to the US, and was considering terminating the contracts of non-essential staff. The Guardian reported on February 7 that in a notice sent to employees on February 6, USAID said it would keep 611 essential staff.
Labor unions say Mr. Trump lacks the authority to prematurely dismantle a six-decade-old agency that is mandated by Congress to handle international aid. USAID provides humanitarian assistance to more than 100 countries, including disaster relief, medical, health and food assistance. As of 2023, USAID will have more than 10,000 employees worldwide, with two-thirds of them working overseas.
"Shut it down," Trump wrote about USAID on the social network Truth Social on February 7, stating that the spending problem for this agency is "fraudulent and inexplicable."
USAID is one of the agencies targeted as the Trump administration seeks to streamline its apparatus and coordinate with the Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk to review cuts to government programs and budgets.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
