Readers Write: USAID funding, Veterans Affairs

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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As someone with on-the-ground experience with USAID programs in Africa and Eastern Europe, I am appalled by the administration’s slash-and-burn approach to this critical piece our nation’s security triad — defense, diplomacy and development.

I’ve done a dozen assignments for the USAID-administered Farmer-to-Farmer program — authorized and funded in the farm bill with broad bipartisan congressional support — which puts expert volunteer consultants on the ground to work on agricultural economic development. I’ve volunteered weeks of my time and my expertise to what USAID programs achieve. A thriving organic agriculture sector in Moldova, a dependable food safety tracking app that opened EU markets for Ghana’s fruit and vegetable growers, a rural farm grain marketing and supply cooperative in Malawi and much more. Not to mention the critical impact of lifesaving food and medical programs.

Should we review programs to ensure they deliver what they promise? Absolutely. But complete destruction of the trust and security that have taken 80 years to build is foolhardy and dangerous. Not to mention Elon’s Musk’s insult that “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.” It denigrates thousands globally and many more here in the U.S. As someone who has contributed my time and expertise to doing good, I am deeply offended.

Congress needs to step up and stand up. Convince this administration to restore these programs and then undertake legitimate, systematic evaluations. We can’t afford to throw away eight decades of investment and success based on an angry, unfounded whim.

Lani Jordan, St. Paul

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For the past two weeks, I’ve watched an unelected and unconfirmed billionaire demonize my colleagues and the agency where I’ve worked for almost a decade. On Wednesday, I was disappointed and disheartened to see this demonization continue in the pages of the Minnesota Star Tribune, with Abdulrahman Bindamnan’s inaccurate and simplistic commentary opining on the dismantling of USAID (“Dismantling USAID is not necessarily a bad thing,” Strib Voices, Feb. 5).

For the past 63 years, USAID has represented a vital tool of American soft power abroad and a tangible demonstration of American values and generosity. The impact of foreign aid far outweighs what we spend on it; foreign aid represents less than 1% of the national budget but is often the first thing folks abroad associate with our nation. American adversaries, including China, will happily step in to fill the void left by the dismantling of this agency, leaving the American people less strong and less safe.

The foreign aid industry is certainly not without it’s weaknesses, and I acknowledge Bindamnan’s perspective that it tends to be too western-focused. But his examples paint an incomplete picture. An example of my own: For years, my colleagues have worked long hours in dangerous conditions away from their families to ensure the flow of U.S.-grown food aid to Bindamnan’s native Yemen, where, until recently, USAID was feeding around 10 million people in need per month in partnership with the U.N. I wonder, is feeding starving babies the “American leftist values” to which Bindamnan objects?

Julian Wyss, Minneapolis

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There seems to be no end to the political criticisms in these pages. How about some credit where credit is due? President Donald Trump and Musk are suddenly the new progressives, enacting common-sense initiatives to accountable progress for a better America. The tariff threat will now lead to far more secure borders and welcomed immigration on our terms, while finally controlling drugs and weapons trading and preventing easy access for terrorists and other criminals intent on poisoning Americans with drugs and destroying our country.

As for the financial oversight review of Musk, it’s about time someone rid our bloated federal government of wasteful spending, outright frauds, inefficiencies and corruption. They have accomplished more in weeks than previous administrations have in decades past. This will all play out for good; give our guys a break!

Michael Tillemans, Minneapolis

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In his Feb. 5 opinion piece, Bindamnan wrote that “Dismantling USAID is not necessarily a bad thing.” In criticizing “the horrible actions that international development organizations have committed,” he cited two examples: A Yemeni consultant’s book in Arabic was translated into English by an expat who claimed authorship, and an American who wrote monographs on Yemeni education could not speak Arabic and knew nothing about Yemeni culture. Let me cite two consequences of Trump’s “horrible action” of two weeks ago, imposing a freeze on foreign assistance: the closing of soup kitchens in battle-torn Khartoum, Sudan, with its starving populace, and the closing of hospitals in refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, leaving patients bereft of medical treatment. A self-serving act by foreign aid consultants is inappropriate. The action by Trump to terminate assistance to some of the world’s most vulnerable people is both heartless and shortsighted. If it stands, our nation is covered in shame.

Roger B. Day, Duluth

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I take issue with Bindamnan’s piece and its inflammatory headline, “Dismantling USAID is not necessarily a bad thing.” I don’t doubt his negative experiences with expats in Yemen who were highly selfish, motivated by self interest and ignorant of the language. However, I fail to see how that has anything to do with USAID funding humanitarian aid. Musk immediately cut off funding for lifesaving food for starving children in Sudan and medications for developing nations. It is one thing for a new administration to decide to give a closer look at funding going forward, but it is cruel and unconstitutional to immediately halt this aid that Congress has appropriated. People will die.

Alice Gruber, Woodbury

As a Vietnam veteran I am appalled — as should all Americans — by the Trump administration’s betrayal of America’s veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced last month that 300,000 positions are exempt from Trump’s 90-day hiring freeze. This appears to protect veterans’ health care. However, the details reveal the opposite.

The exemptions cited on the VA website apply to many medical and medical support staff, but do not include nonclinical positions, including food service, custodial and clerical positions. How can VA medical facilities provide care to veterans if the VA freezes hiring support staff necessary for a functioning hospital or clinic? Who, for example, will clean the facility, including operating rooms, clinics, patients’ rooms and bathrooms if vacant custodian staff positions are left unfilled? The same goes for feeding hospitalized veterans if food-service vacancies are not filled and for appointment scheduling and medical record maintenance if clerical personnel are not available.

Besides this, the recent pause on federal spending froze the VA’s suicide prevention and legal services grants. Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to commit suicide than nonveterans. This is a national crisis, and the suicide-prevention grants program is specifically designed to address veteran suicide. Freezing this program is not only detrimental to the well-being of veterans, it poses the danger of stopping preventable suicides.

Fortunately, due to a public outcry and the ruling by a federal judge, the plans to freeze such grants were temporarily rescinded. However, following an analysis of its programs and a consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, the VA determined that its financial assistance programs would continue uninterrupted. Regardless, any action to restrict or halt veteran suicide prevention programs, even if it is rescinded, is unacceptable and is indicative of a complete disregard for those who served.

These actions are indicative of total disregard for those who answered the call to duty. Tell your elected officials to oppose any reduction in service to veterans. Make “Thank you for your service” more than an empty platitude.

Jeff E. Roy, Minneapolis