A MART脥NEZ, HOST:
One of the first targets of the Trump Administration's federal workforce cuts was the U.S. Agency for International Development. The headquarters was shuttered weeks ago, but yesterday and today, those who worked there are being allowed to return briefly to pick up their things. Here's NPR's Michele Kelemen.
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MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Supporters cheer as a man walks out of the Ronald Reagan Building with a bag and a large picture from South Sudan. He had just 15 minutes to gather things from his desk.
UNIDENTIFIED USAID EMPLOYEE: I'm incredibly bitter and very angry, and I don't - nobody likes feeling that way, right? You know, we've sacrificed a lot. I've, you know, spent almost 20 years working solely on Sudan and South Sudan.
KELEMEN: He won't give his name because, for now, he still has a job, though almost everyone at USAID has either been put on administrative leave or fired in recent weeks. He says he always believed that foreign assistance was one of the last bipartisan issues in Washington.
UNIDENTIFIED USAID EMPLOYEE: It's a legacy that, you know, American taxpayers should be proud of. Let's not forget that. Historically, up until now, it's been less than 1% of the budget. And, you know, come on. Talk to the average American. Do they want to see people dying because of assistance cutoff?
KELEMEN: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that he's given waivers to lifesaving aid programs to make sure they continue. But his team has been canceling contracts and, so far, refusing court orders to pay for some work that's already been done. Former President Biden's USAID administrator, Samantha Power, describes it this way.
SAMANTHA POWER: It's the ultimate shock and awe, not to give the courts, the citizens - even the silent majority of Republican members of Congress who support this work - a chance to get their bearings and activate.
KELEMEN: She was inside the building to greet former colleagues, along with Obama's former administrator, Gayle Smith.
GAYLE SMITH: It's shocking because, again, from a foreign policy point of view, this is crazy. You don't just cut off your arm and say, we'll figure out later whether or not we needed it.
KELEMEN: She says she saw lots of experts walking out the door of the Ronald Reagan Building.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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