UN says 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in next 48 hours under Israeli aid blockade
Australia, UK, France and Canada warn Israel of action if ‘egregious’ conduct in Gaza continues.
– Jem Bartholomew – The Guardian – 20 May 2025
This speaks for itself, even in the number were half of that. What makes this tragedy as bad is Ukraine Russia is that it has killed more or as many proportionally. Israel and Palestine together have 15 million people. Russia and Ukraine have 185 million twelve times the number as in the European war. (11 times the population). 62,000 Palestinians have been killed, fewer than 3000. Russia and Ukraine each have more than 200,000 war dead and another 700,000 injured. The Ukrainbs have uo to 1,000,000 war dead.
A boy in Gaza is fed with food from a community kitchen at the Muwasi camp for displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis on 18 May. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
Good morning.
The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC this morning that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time. Five aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday but Fletcher described this as a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for the population’s needs.
It followed the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying yesterday that 2 million people were starving in the Gaza Strip while “tonnes of food is blocked at the border” by Israel.
The leaders of the UK, France and Canada yesterday condemned Israel’s “egregious actions” in Gaza and warned of joint action if Israel continued. Meanwhile, Palestinians began fleeing Khan Younis as Israel ordered people to “evacuate immediately” before an “unprecedented attack” that the military says is targeting Hamas infrastructure.
Israel targets Nasser hospital as Netanyahu vows to take control of all of Gaza – video
What else is the UN saying about Israel’s aid blockade, in place since 2 March? A UN-backed report recently estimated that one in five people in the territory were facing starvation. The UN posted a statement on Monday reading: “Everyone in Gaza is hungry. Without immediate action, nearly a quarter of the population could be pushed into famine. Food aid must be allowed into Gaza now to prevent a catastrophe.”
Here’s what the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said: Israel decided on Sunday to resume the entry of a “basic quantity” of food, after coming under increasing international pressure. But yesterday Netanyahu hit back at the UK, France and Canada for condemning Israel, calling on them to follow Donald Trump’s example.
What’s the latest with Israel’s ongoing military bombardment? Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel had killed at least 44 people in Gaza today. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces bombed a pharmaceutical laboratory. Hundreds of people have been killed in the past week, many of them women and children, as Israel’s attacks have intensified.
Trump and Putin hold two-hour phone call but Kremlin refuses Ukraine ceasefire
Beyond Trump’s optimistic rhetoric, no breakthrough appears in sight. Composite: EPA
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a rare two-hour phone call yesterday, but the Russian leader declined to support a US-proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire, to which Ukraine had already agreed.
Putin also suggested his country’s maximalist objectives in the war with Ukraine were unchanged. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, insisted Ukraine was ready for a full ceasefire and direct negotiations with Moscow, but said: “If the Russians are not ready to stop the killings, there must be stronger sanctions.”
How did Trump try to spin the call? He posted optimistically on Truth Social: “The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent … Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.”
But … Trump later suggested the US could abandon its involvement, telling reporters that if there was no progress, “I’m just going to back away”.
President Trump’s administration said it will freeze around $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts to Harvard University after the Ivy League institution rejected the government’s demands earlier Monday.
“Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws,” the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said in a statement Monday evening.
The response from the administration came just hours after Harvard’s leadership said that it would not comply with the demands from the federal government, including instituting changes around protesting and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in order to keep their funding.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Harvard’s President Alan Garber said Monday.
He said the school is already working on several initiatives to fight antisemitism and it will continue to do so in the future, but the administration’s requests are a step too far.
WCMH: debate over SNAP
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Combating antisemitism “will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate. The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community,” Garber said.
Last week, the federal government asked the Ivy League school to also reform its admission and hiring practices, make leadership changes, probe departments for antisemitism and ban face masks, among other demands, in order to keep the funding.
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“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable,” the task force said Friday evening. “The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”
When reached for comment, Harvard’s spokesperson pointed The Hill to Garber’s Friday statement, where he said that “for the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals, but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.”
The current administration has targeted multiple Ivy League institutions, accusing them of not doing enough to fight antisemitism on campuses, particularly after the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Make no mistake. This is one of the atrocities of our time as Americans look the other way. Yes Israel was viciously attacked on October 7, 1923. But the response against Gaza (almost 50,000 confirmed civilian deaths) is frightfully disproportionate to the attacks). Most Palestinians (including the 10,000 + children killed) did not even know about the Hamas invasion of Israel at that time. Both the Biden and Trump administrations sent aid to Israel while this was going on. The Israelis do not need money for American weapons. The Palestinians in Gaza do need food, water and medical help.
By Eyad Kourdi, Ibrahim Dahman, Mohammad al-Sawalhi and Sophie Tanno, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 11:52 AM EDT, Sun March 30, 2025
Victims of an Israeli strike on the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis Sunday are laid to rest. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty ImagesCNN —
Israeli airstrikes on a tent and a home housing displaced people in southern Gaza killed 10 people Sunday, including children, as Palestinians observed the first day of Eid-al-Fitr, rescuers said.
The Israeli military is stepping up its renewed campaign in Gaza, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying efforts to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages were “working” and vowing to implement Donald Trump’s hugely controversial scheme to relocate Palestinians from the territory.
Twenty people were also injured in the strike on the Al-Mawasi area, Khan Younis’s Director of Civil Defense Yamen Abu Suleiman told CNN, warning the death toll would likely rise.
A local hospital confirmed the fatalities so far, saying five children had been killed.
Video of the aftermath of the strike shows some of the child victims wearing new Eid clothing. In Middle Eastern tradition, children wear new clothes to celebrate the three-day holiday.
In the footage, a manis seen dragging a child toward the hospital, asking: “What was these children’s fault? They did nothing.”
CNN has approached the Israel Defense Forces for comment.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are observing Eid this year in the face of dwindling aid supplies and a mounting death toll in the strip.
“Every year, I’m used to baking Eid cookies for my children,” one displaced woman, Ameneh Shaqla, told CNN. “But because of the current situation and how expensive everything has become, I was only able to prepare one kilogram — just to bring them some joy so they don’t stay sad because of the war.”
Abdel Fattah Khalil Karnawi, a street vendor, told of the soaring prices for clothing. “We came to the market to get Eid clothes for the children. Unfortunately, the circumstances are tough and prices are very high.”
Bodies of Palestinians are brought to the Nasser Hospital by their relatives in Khan Younis Sunday. Hani Alshaer/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israel resumed its offensive on Gaza almost two weeks ago, shattering a two-month-old ceasefire. It imposed a complete blockade of humanitarian aid entering the enclave, warning that its forces would maintain a permanent presence in parts of Gaza until the release of the remaining 24 hostages who are believed to still be alive. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the enclave since then.
Al-Mawasi, a coastal region west of the city of Rafah, has repeatedly come under Israeli attacks, even though it was previously designated by Israel as a “humanitarian area.” Thousands of Palestinians have fled to Al-Mawasi, living for months in makeshift tents made of cloth and nylon, with little access to humanitarian relief.
In comments made on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to step up the military campaign, saying the pressure on Hamas was “working.”
“It works because it operates simultaneously: on one hand, it crushes Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities and, on the other, it creates the conditions for the release of our hostages. This is exactly what we are doing,” Netanyahu said at a government meeting.
Rejecting assertions Israel was unwilling to negotiate, he added that “cracks”were showing in Hamas following the renewal of the offensive and said Israel would implement “the Trump Plan — the voluntary emigration plan,” a scheme Trump himself appears to have walked back on.
New ceasefire proposal
Sunday’s strike comes as Hamas has agreed to a new Egyptian proposal to release five hostages, including the American-Israeli Edan Alexander, in exchange for a renewed ceasefire, a Hamas source told CNN.
The proposal is similar to one presented several weeks ago by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, although it is not clear whether it also includes the release of additional bodies of deceased hostages.
In exchange for the release of five hostages, Hamas expects a return to phase 1 ceasefire conditions, including the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, as well as an agreement from Israel to negotiate the second phase of the ceasefire, the source said.
Israel has responded to the Egyptian offer with a counter-proposal, according to a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted a series of consultations yesterday, following a proposal received from the mediators. In recent hours, Israel transferred its counter-proposal to the mediators, in full coordination with the United States,” the office said.
Netanyahu is facing competing demands at home from his right-wing coalition who want to increase pressure on Hamas and families of the remaining hostages who fear more military action could endanger their loved ones.
This story has been updated.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Tamar Michaelis contributed reporting.
Elliott is a senior correspondent at TIME, based in the Washington, D.C., bureau.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaves the Democratic caucus lunch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on March 13, 2025.Kayla Bartkowski—Getty Images
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The Senate’s move Friday to avoid a government shutdown—essentially ceding spending power to President Donald Trump and downgrading Congress to an advisory role—was an epic climbdown that is rightfully sending the Democrats’ base into a spiral.
The rage among Democrats trained on one figure: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who signaled a day earlier that the fight was over and it was time to move on. The choice was to hold open the doors of a scaled-down government or to slam it closed on what stood before, and the outcome tells the story.
That does not mean anyone in the party was happy about how this went down.
Asked Friday if it was time for a new Leadership team for Senate Democrats, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to throw Schumer a life preserver. “Next question,” Jeffries said. In other spaces, there was an open talk of primarying Schumer when he is next on the ballot in 2028.
Nine Senate Democrats—and Independent Angus King of Maine who caucuses with them—joined all but one Senate Republican on Friday to sidestep a government shutdown. The stopgap spending plan gives the White House a freer hand to shutter dozens of federal functions created by Congress and eliminate thousands of jobs. Congress, at least through Sept. 30, is in effect legislating a stronger executive branch that can basically do anything with the money lawmakers release.
It was a crap ending to what’s been a crap week for Democrats, frankly. On top of all of the chaos unfurling from the Trump White House by way of new executive orders, hires, fires, and tariffs, they have also had to face this ticking clock of a government shutdown. House Republicans jammed Democrats with a party-line spending plan that is especially heinous in its cuts to the District of Columbia. Then, the House ditched town, giving the Senate zero say to tweak the spending. Then, Schumer on Wednesday asserted the framework had insufficient support to get across the finish line. And, then, a day later, he said he would support the spending structure to block a shutdown.
The whiplash from the shut-it-down to keep-it-alive posturing only fed the contempt that many Democrats were already harboring toward their current leaders.
“Whatever happens will happen,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who was a “no” vote and used the hours ahead of the votes to telegraph a dark fatalism.
That resignation has been bleeding through Washington in recent weeks. The fight among anti-Trumpers of all stripes has faded in recent days as Trump’s brazen conquest of the spending system was looking increasingly inevitable. The chest-thumping celebrations in the White House and the antics of its pet-project DOGE intersected to rile up Democrats, who have been trying to defend all corners of the federal cogs.
Ultimately, though, the Democrats in a position to thwart Trump and his GOP allies caved. Republicans have majorities in the House and Senate, plus control of the White House. But Senate rules require 60 votes to get balls rolling, and Republicans had just 52 yes votes in the Upper Chamber. That meant GOP lawmakers needed to get eight converts among Democrats.
Senate Democrats looked at the math, polling, and their own talents. They made the call that the mismatch of their desire to oppose Trump’s unilateral power grab did not match their ability to actually stop it. Poli-sci nerds will tell you that actual power lies at the point where will and capacity are synced up. Democrats had the power to shut down the government but lacked the bandwidth to sell it as the other guys’ fault, or put forth a unified plan on how to reopen the government on better terms.
The problem now lies with how Democrats deal with the Schumer sitch. They are very, very quiet at the moment, but there are the faintest of rumblings about whether Schumer gets to hold his position as Minority Leader for the balance of this term. Progressive and rank-and-file corners of the party alike were uneasy about this call, and steering this unruly ship into 2026 is a job that is not something to be taken lightly.
To be clear: Schumer is not at risk of being deposed in short order, and Democrats do not carry House Republicans’ appetite for cannibalizing their own. Schumer acts on calculations, not confidences. His decision to side with keeping the government open at the expense of legislative branch power came from a place of rationality, not rashness. But it still carried costs, and the first among them was his standing with frustratedDemocrats who want the opposition party to do its job: to oppose an administration hellbent on dismantling a government it holds in sheer contempt.
Government, for the moment, survives. Democrats, for the foreseeable future, find their ability to check Trump diminished. And, until Congress reverses itself, the legislative branch takes a secondary role to the executive.
BLOG EDITOR: Canada Says it will have None of this! Let see if the delusional Donald will handle this. We are in an alternative universe from anything we’ve seen. The question is who will suffer more but for the U.S. more like what will this first wave of retaliation do to his odd and destructive administration.
The president said he would double tariffs set to go into effect on Wednesday and threatened further levies, as he ramps up economic pressure on America’s closest ally.
Ana Swanson covers international trade and reported from Washington.
March 11, 2025Updated 11:23 a.m. ET
President Trump escalated his fight with Canada on Tuesday, saying that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and threatening to inflict even more pain on one of America’s closest traditional allies as he pressed Canada to become part of the United States.
His comments sent jittery markets tumbling, with the S&P 500 down about 1 percent in early morning trading.
In a post on his social media platform, Mr. Trump wrote that Canadian steel and aluminum would face a 50 percent tariff, double what he plans to charge on metals from other countries beginning Wednesday. He said the levies were in response to an additional charge that Ontario placed on electricity coming into the United States, and he threatened more tariffs if Canada didn’t drop various levies it imposes on U.S. dairy and agricultural products.
“If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada,” he threatened.
Source: Peterson Institute for International Economics, Wells Fargo Economic Insights
The New York Times
Mr. Trump went on to say that “the only thing that makes sense” is for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state.
The moves will significantly escalate a confrontation with one of America’s largest trading partners, and call into question Mr. Trump’s intentions for one of its closest allies. Canadian officials first thought Mr. Trump’s idea of absorbing Canada into the United State was a joke, but they have more recently begun to take the president’s threats seriously.
Mr. Trump spent much of his social media post on Tuesday essentially cajoling Canada to become part of America, writing: “This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that.”
“The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World,” he added.
President Trump said Canadian steel and aluminum would face a 50 percent tariff when coming into the United States.Credit…Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press
Last week, Mr. Trump hit Canada and Mexico with sweeping 25 percents on all imports, before walking some — but not all — of those levies back a few days later.
Mr. Trump said the higher metal tariffs on Canada would be a response to a surcharge on electricity it exports to the United States. On Monday, Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, retaliated against Mr. Trump’s tariffs by adding a 25 percent surcharge to the electricity it exports to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
Canada is in the middle of a political transition as it prepares to swear in a new prime minister, Mark Carney, an economist and central banker, to replace Justin Trudeau, who announced in January that he would be resigning after almost 10 years in office. Mr. Trump’s move would punish the entire country for a retaliation measure taken on by one province.
Vjosa Isai and Danielle Kaye contributed reporting.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade. More about Ana Swanson
Opinion– So much has been written about this dark episode. That it was a dark day for Americans. (READ BELOW). A vital part of understanding this MAGA Republican stunt is that one has to understand: A.) What’s New? A rare look, not on the campaign rally circuit, not a tweet, not an interview.
The tag team bullying from Trump alone removes any doubt that we have to deal with something never seen before: A president with a diagnosable neurotic: narcissistic, angry, grandiose, bullying personality and persona. Not psychotic, as far as we can tell, but a bundle of neuroses so transparent and palpable that we, unformal an informed or simply interested public that might now be a voting majority (too slight) recognizes the trouble we are in.
Here we are talking about a common sense diagnosis because we are unlikely to have a medical one. But like Justice Potter Stewart on pornography we can’t define it be we know it when we see it.
B. ) on Policy Trump’s desire for a cease fire and talks is not inherently bad If it results in the saving of Ukrainian lives and widespread destruction of their country. NATO membership for Ukraine should be completely off the table, unless the United States wants to allow Russia to annex parts of Mexico.
I’ll stop here because of the oceans of electronic and print ink spilled on everything Trump, the sheer embarrassments and now outrages. These were promised during the 2024 campaign, Trump won by 1%, and now we are faced with the results: promises kept. If there were a parliamentary election (a fantasy) today in America Trump might win very slightly but if a Referendum he would not. The question is not If the regime will implode but when.
It’s no exaggeration to repeat the obvious: Trump is overplaying his hand. He’ll always have lapdogs like Lindsey Graham, but as public outrage even in the 55% range and getting hotter this will implode. Right now it may seem like a slow drip of bone-headed actions (take your pick: “Gulf of America? or a tax policy tilted toward the wealthy) , but the die is cast and the idea of a Gotterdammerung is too complimentary. The thugs are both the coterie around Trump and some, not all, of the people he has enabled: the Rudy Giuliani’s and the freed by pardon of then naive hoodlums that stormed the Capitol 4+ years ago. [I did not, could not stop where I indicated Above]
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In August 1941, about four months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt met with Winston Churchill aboard warships in Newfoundland’s Placentia Bay and agreed to the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration by the world’s leading democratic powers on “common principles” for a postwar world.
Among its key points: “no aggrandizement, territorial or other”; “sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them”; “freedom from fear and want”; freedom of the seas; “access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity.”
The charter, and the alliance that came of it, is a high point of American statesmanship. On Friday in the Oval Office, the world witnessed the opposite. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s embattled democratic leader, came to Washington prepared to sign away anything he could offer President Trump except his nation’s freedom, security and common sense. For that, he was rewarded with a lecture on manners from the most mendacious vulgarian and ungracious host ever to inhabit the White House.
If Roosevelt had told Churchill to sue for peace on any terms with Adolf Hitler and to fork over Britain’s coal reserves to the United States in exchange for no American security guarantees, it might have approximated what Trump did to Zelensky. Whatever one might say about how Zelensky played his cards poorly — either by failing to behave with the degree of all-fours sycophancy that Trump demands or to maintain his composure in the face of JD Vance’s disingenuous provocations — this was a day of American infamy.
Where do we go from here?
If there’s one silver lining to this fiasco, it’s that Zelensky did not sign the agreement on Ukrainian minerals that was forced on him this month by Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary who’s the Tom Hagen character in this protection-racket administration. The United States is entitled to some kind of reward for helping Ukraine defend itself — and Ukraine’s destruction of much of Russia’s military might should top the list, followed by the innovation Ukraine demonstrated in pioneering revolutionary forms of low-cost drone warfare, which the Pentagon will be keen to emulate.
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But if it’s a financial payback that the Trump administration seeks, the best place to get it is to seize, in collaboration with our European partners, Russia’s frozen assets and put them into an account by which Ukraine could pay for American-made arms. If the United States won’t do this, the Europeans should: Let the Ukrainians rely for their arms on Dassault, Saab, Rheinmetall, BAE Systems and other European defense contractors and see how that goes over with the “America First”-ers. Hopefully that could serve as another spur to Europeans to invest, as quickly and heavily as they can, in their depleted militaries, not simply to strengthen NATO but also to hedge against its end.
There is a second opportunity: While Trump’s abuse of Zelensky might delight the MAGA crowd, it isn’t likely to play well with most voters, including the almost 30 percent of Republicans who, even now, believe it’s in our interest to stand with Ukraine. And while most Americans may want to see the war in Ukraine end, they almost surely don’t want to see it end on Vladimir Putin’s terms.
Nor should the Trump administration. A Russian victory in Ukraine, including a cease-fire that allows Moscow to consolidate its gains and recoup its strength before the next assault, will have precisely the same effect as the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan: emboldening American enemies to behave more aggressively. Notice that, as Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Ukraine in recent weeks, Taiwan reported a surge in Chinese military drills around the island, while Chinese warships held live-fire exercises off the coast of Vietnam and came within 150 nautical miles of Sydney.
Those are points honorable conservatives should press: Can Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska — two Republicans who haven’t sold their souls on Ukraine — lead a delegation of like-minded conservatives to Kyiv?
More so, this should be an opportunity for Democrats. Joe Biden was right when he called this a “decisive decade” for the future of the free world; he just happened to be too feeble and cautious a messenger.
But there are tough-minded Democrats with military and security backgrounds — Representative Jason Crow of Colorado, Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan come to mind — who can restore the spirit of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy to the Democratic Party. It’s a message of toughness and freedom they might also be able to sell to at least some Trump voters, who cast their ballots in November for the sake of a better America, not a greater Russia.
Still, there’s no getting around the fact that Friday was a dreadful day — dreadful for Ukraine, for the free world, for the legacy of an America that once stood for the principles of the Atlantic Charter.
Roosevelt and Reagan must be spinning in their graves, as are Churchill and Thatcher. It’s up to the rest of us to reclaim America’s honor from the gangsters who besmirched it in the White House.
More on President Trump, Vladimir Putin and Ukraine
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After a monthlong honeymoon for the G.O.P. at the start of President Trump’s term, lawmakers are confronting a groundswell of fear and disaffection in districts around the country.
Representative Pete Sessions fielded a barrage of frustration from constituents at a town-hall meeting in Trinity, Texas, on Saturday.Credit…Mark Felix for The New York Times
Robert Jimison, who covers Congress, reported from Trinity County in the 17th Congressional District of Texas.
Feb. 23, 2025
Some came with complaints about Elon Musk, President Trump’s billionaire ally who is carrying out an assault on the federal bureaucracy. Others demanded guarantees that Republicans in Congress would not raid the social safety net. Still others chided the G.O.P. to push back against Mr. Trump’s moves to trample the constitutional power of Congress.
When Representative Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas, arrived at a crowded community center on Saturday in the small rural town of Trinity in East Texas, he came prepared to deliver a routine update on the administration’s first month in office. Instead, he fielded a barrage of frustration and anger from constituents questioning Mr. Trump’s agenda and his tactics — and pressing Mr. Sessions and his colleagues on Capitol Hill to do something about it.
“The executive can only enforce laws passed by Congress; they cannot make laws,” said Debra Norris, a lawyer who lives in Huntsville, arguing that the mass layoffs and agency closures Mr. Musk has spearheaded were unconstitutional. “When are you going to wrest control back from the executive and stop hurting your constituents?”
“When are you going to wrest control back from the executive?” Debra Norris, a lawyer who lives in Huntsville, asked Mr. Sessions.Credit…Mark Felix for The New York Times
Louis Smith, a veteran who lives in East Texas, told Mr. Sessions that he agreed with the effort to root out excessive spending, but he criticized the way it was being handled and presented to the public.
“I like what you’re saying, but you need to tell more people,” Mr. Smith said. “The guy in South Africa is not doing you any good — he’s hurting you more than he’s helping,” he added, referring to Mr. Musk and drawing nods and applause from many in the room.
Many of the most vocal complaints came from participants who identified themselves as Democrats, but a number of questions pressing Mr. Sessions and others around the country came from Republican voters. During a telephone town hall with Representative Stephanie Bice in Oklahoma, a man who identified himself as a Republican and retired U.S. Army officer voiced frustration over potential cuts to veterans benefits.
“How can you tell me that DOGE with some college whiz kids from a computer terminal in Washington, D.C., without even getting into the field, after about a week or maybe two, have determined that it’s OK to cut veterans benefits?” the man asked.
Beyond town halls, some Democrats have organized a number of protests outside the offices of vulnerable Republicans. More than a hundred demonstrators rallied outside the New York district office of Representative Mike Lawler. Elected Democrats are also facing fury from within the ranks of their party. A group of voters held closed-door meetings with members from the office of Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, after a demonstration at his New York offices.
Some of the scenes recalled the raucous town-hall meetings of 2009 that heralded the rise of the ultraconservative Tea Party, where throngs of voters showed up protesting President Barack Obama’s health care law and railed against government debt and taxes. It is not yet clear whether the current backlash will persist or reach the same intensity as it did back then. But the tenor of the sessions suggests that, after a brief honeymoon period for Mr. Trump and Republicans at the start of their governing trifecta, voters beginning to digest the effects of their agenda may be starting to sour on it.
Representative Rich McCormick, a Republican from Georgia, also faced shouts and jeers from constituents at a meeting last week.Credit…Valerie Plesch for The New York Times
Mr. Sessions, who was first elected to Congress nearly three decades ago and represents a solidly Republican district, appeared unfazed by the disruptions on Saturday. Some audience members laughed at him and retorted with hushed but audible expletives when he spoke about his support of some of Mr. Trump’s policy proposals and early actions.
And some of his constituents were plainly pleased by what they had seen so far from the new all-Republican team controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress. Several cheered an executive order barring transgender women and girls from participating in school athletic programs designated for female students, applauded plans to shrink the Department of Education and welcomed calls from Mr. Sessions to end remote work flexibility for federal employees.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to have a reduction in force,” Mr. Sessions told the crowd.
And while many in the room voiced displeasure over the sweeping changes underway in Washington, some were agitating for bolder action to address what they called government corruption — not for pumping the brakes.
As Mr. Sessions spoke about the administration’s efforts to streamline bureaucracy and root out wasteful spending, shouts erupted.
“Take care of it, Congressman,” one woman said, interrupting him.
“Do something about it,” another man added.
One man’s voice rose above the others railing against nongovernmental organizations that receive federal money: “They’re laundering money to NGOs. Who’s in jail?”
Still, much of the pressure came from constituents concerned about how he might be enabling Mr. Trump to enact policies that could hurt them.
Mr. Sessions did not promise that Social Security would be insulated from cuts when pressed by John Watt, left.Credit…Mark Felix for The New York Times
John Watt, the chairman of the Democratic Party in nearby Nacogdoches County, asked for guarantees from the congressman that he would oppose any cuts to Social Security if Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk turned their attention to the entitlement program.
“Will you be courageous enough to stand up to them?” Mr. Watt asked.
Mr. Sessions spoke at length about his support for the program, but said he could not promise it would be insulated from the blunt cuts Republicans in Washington are seeking across the government. Instead, he said he supported a comprehensive audit of the program that could result in some cuts.
“I’m not going to tell you I will never touch Social Security,” Mr. Sessions said, parting ways with Mr. Trump, who campaigned saying he never would. “What I will tell you is that I believe we’re going to do for the first time in years a top-to-bottom review of that. And I will come back, and I will do a town-hall meeting in your county and place myself before you and let you know about the options. But I don’t know what they’re proposing right now.”
It was a nod to the uncertainty surrounding the Republican budget plan, even as House leaders hope to hold a vote on it within days. Already, the level of cuts they are contemplating to Medicaid has drawn resistance from some G.O.P. lawmakers whose constituents depend heavily on the program, raising questions about whether they will have the votes to pass their blueprint at all.
The public pushback could further complicate that debate, as well as efforts to reach a spending agreement as lawmakers return to Washington this week with less than three weeks to avert a government shutdown.
The tenor of the town-hall meetings, including Mr. Sessions’s, suggested that voters were beginning to digest the effects of the Republican agenda.Credit…Mark Felix for The New York Times
Republicans generally hold fewer in-person open town halls than their Democratic counterparts, opting instead for more controlled settings, such as telephone town halls, that minimize the risk of public confrontations. But even before last week, they had begun hearing frustration from voters, who have also expressed their discontent by flooding the phones of congressional offices.
With their already narrow majority in the House, G.O.P. lawmakers are in a fragile position. A voter backlash could sweep out some of their most vulnerable members in midterm elections next year. But the pushback in recent days has come not only in highly competitive districts but also in deeply Republican ones, suggesting a broader problem for the party.
And there is little sign that Mr. Trump is letting up. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said in a social media post that Mr. Musk “is doing a great job, but I would like to see him be more aggressive.” Mr. Musk responded by sending government employees emails that he said were “requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
GOP lawmakers expected to vote soon on slashing the insurance program for low-income people represent tens of millions reliant on it.
Louis Smith, a veteran who lives in East Texas, told Mr. Sessions that he agreed with the effort to root out excessive spending, but he criticized the way it was being handled and presented to the public.
“I like what you’re saying, but you need to tell more people,” Mr. Smith said. “The guy in South Africa is not doing you any good — he’s hurting you more than he’s helping,” he added, referring to Mr. Musk and drawing nods and applause from many in the room.
“I like what you’re saying, but you need to tell more people,” Mr. Smith said. “The guy in South Africa is not doing you any good — he’s hurting you more than he’s helping,” he added, referring to Mr. Musk and drawing nods and applause from many in the room.
Many of the most vocal complaints came from participants who identified themselves as Democrats, but a number of questions pressing Mr. Sessions and others around the country came from Republican voters. During a telephone town hall with Representative Stephanie Bice in Oklahoma, a man who identified himself as a Republican and retired U.S. Army officer voiced frustration over potential cuts to veterans benefits.
“How can you tell me that DOGE with some college whiz kids from a computer terminal in Washington, D.C., without even getting into the field, after about a week or maybe two, have determined that it’s OK to cut veterans benefits?” the man asked.
Beyond town halls, some Democrats have organized a number of protests outside the offices of vulnerable Republicans. More than a hundred demonstrators rallied outside the New York district office of Representative Mike Lawler. Elected Democrats are also facing fury from within the ranks of their party. A group of voters held closed-door meetings with members from the office of Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, after a demonstration at his New York offices.
Some of the scenes recalled the raucous town-hall meetings of 2009 that heralded the rise of the ultraconservative Tea Party, where throngs of voters showed up protesting President Barack Obama’s health care law and railed against government debt and taxes. It is not yet clear whether the current backlash will persist or reach the same intensity as it did back then. But the tenor of the sessions suggests that, after a brief honeymoon period for Mr. Trump and Republicans at the start of their governing trifecta, voters beginning to digest the effects of their agenda may be starting to sour on it.
Representative Rich McCormick, a Republican from Georgia, also faced shouts and jeers from constituents at a meeting last week.Credit…Valerie Plesch for The New York Times
Mr. Sessions, who was first elected to Congress nearly three decades ago and represents a solidly Republican district, appeared unfazed by the disruptions on Saturday. Some audience members laughed at him and retorted with hushed but audible expletives when he spoke about his support of some of Mr. Trump’s policy proposals and early actions.
And some of his constituents were plainly pleased by what they had seen so far from the new all-Republican team controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress. Several cheered an executive order barring transgender women and girls from participating in school athletic programs designated for female students, applauded plans to shrink the Department of Education and welcomed calls from Mr. Sessions to end remote work flexibility for federal employees.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to have a reduction in force,” Mr. Sessions told the crowd.
And while many in the room voiced displeasure over the sweeping changes underway in Washington, some were agitating for bolder action to address what they called government corruption — not for pumping the brakes.
As Mr. Sessions spoke about the administration’s efforts to streamline bureaucracy and root out wasteful spending, shouts erupted.
“Take care of it, Congressman,” one woman said, interrupting him.
“Do something about it,” another man added.
One man’s voice rose above the others railing against nongovernmental organizations that receive federal money: “They’re laundering money to NGOs. Who’s in jail?”
Still, much of the pressure came from constituents concerned about how he might be enabling Mr. Trump to enact policies that could hurt them.
Mr. Sessions did not promise that Social Security would be insulated from cuts when pressed by John Watt, left.Credit…Mark Felix for The New York Times
John Watt, the chairman of the Democratic Party in nearby Nacogdoches County, asked for guarantees from the congressman that he would oppose any cuts to Social Security if Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk turned their attention to the entitlement program.
“Will you be courageous enough to stand up to them?” Mr. Watt asked.
Mr. Sessions spoke at length about his support for the program, but said he could not promise it would be insulated from the blunt cuts Republicans in Washington are seeking across the government. Instead, he said he supported a comprehensive audit of the program that could result in some cuts.
“I’m not going to tell you I will never touch Social Security,” Mr. Sessions said, parting ways with Mr. Trump, who campaigned saying he never would. “What I will tell you is that I believe we’re going to do for the first time in years a top-to-bottom review of that. And I will come back, and I will do a town-hall meeting in your county and place myself before you and let you know about the options. But I don’t know what they’re proposing right now.”
It was a nod to the uncertainty surrounding the Republican budget plan, even as House leaders hope to hold a vote on it within days. Already, the level of cuts they are contemplating to Medicaid has drawn resistance from some G.O.P. lawmakers whose constituents depend heavily on the program, raising questions about whether they will have the votes to pass their blueprint at all.
The public pushback could further complicate that debate, as well as efforts to reach a spending agreement as lawmakers return to Washington this week with less than three weeks to avert a government shutdown.
The tenor of the town-hall meetings, including Mr. Sessions’s, suggested that voters were beginning to digest the effects of the Republican agenda.Credit…Mark Felix for The New York Times
Republicans generally hold fewer in-person open town halls than their Democratic counterparts, opting instead for more controlled settings, such as telephone town halls, that minimize the risk of public confrontations. But even before last week, they had begun hearing frustration from voters, who have also expressed their discontent by flooding the phones of congressional offices.
With their already narrow majority in the House, G.O.P. lawmakers are in a fragile position. A voter backlash could sweep out some of their most vulnerable members in midterm elections next year. But the pushback in recent days has come not only in highly competitive districts but also in deeply Republican ones, suggesting a broader problem for the party.
And there is little sign that Mr. Trump is letting up. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said in a social media post that Mr. Musk “is doing a great job, but I would like to see him be more aggressive.” Mr. Musk responded by sending government employees emails that he said were “requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
“I have not yet begun to fight, and neither have you,” President Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday.Credit…Maansi Srivastava for The New York Times
Hours later, during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Mr. Trump signaled that he was only just beginning to enact his agenda.
“I have not yet begun to fight, and neither have you,” Mr. Trump told a crowd of his supporters at the annual gathering outside in Washington.
Such remarks offer little cover for Republicans like Mr. Sessions facing tough questions from voters who are beginning to chafe at the changes Mr. Trump is pursuing.
But the congressman said that tense exchanges would not deter him from holding more events and seeking opportunities to communicate with his constituents, whether they agree with his positions or not. He said he would hold more events across the district next week, and hopes that after another week in Washington, he will be able to provide more clarity for those who show up.
“I heard them and they heard me,” he said of Saturday’s gathering. “And I don’t think there was a fight.”
It is truly appalling when TV anchors like Jake Tapper and even the NY Times, and multiple other people who should know better than to call Elon Musk’s advisory panel, playground, commision a Department. A department can Only be created and funded by Congress, starting with the State Department in 1790 and, most recently, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs established in 1987.
The “DOGE” is essentially Musk and Company with a specious label “Department” fronted by the Trump Administration and lapped up by much of the media, increasingly whitewashing Trump’s behavior, presenting a “fair and balanced” daily accounting of the Republican executive’s “novel approach to governing”. To dub something a department, when able News outlet’s the the Guardian. DO NOT BE FOOLED: This may seem a small thing, but it symbolizes something much bigger.
So we are seeing here the ripe fruit of government spendingL The AGENCY for INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT with a whopping $79 bllion dollar budget. This ii cash for food, disease control, democratizing countries that need the services. The budget for an agency that gives humanitarian aid to over 100 countries. This is a fraction of the boated part of the Defense Department’s 800 Billion plus $$$. So this is a microcosm of the Trump adminstration’s priorities.
12 SHARED INTEREST: HOW USAID ENHANCES U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH | USAID is committed to improving the equitable access and quality of education in beneficiary countries. From 2011 to 2015, results under the USAID Education Strategy included the following: • Quality & learning: USAID expanded the reach of its reading programs from 7 million children across 19 countries in 2011, to 22.7 million children across 41 countries in 2015. In assessments of student learning, 1.5 million students (more than half female) demonstrated improved reading skills. • Access: USAID programs established or improved education in safe learning environments for a total of 11.8 million individual children and youth in crisis and conflict environments (5.6 million females, 6.2 million males). • Supporting higher education for innovation and knowledge: The Agency supported 72 joint research programs between U.S. and host country higher education institutions to advance economic growth and sustainability through research and innovations in agriculture, energy and health, among other sectors. HEALTH A healthy population is essential for economic growth. Increasing life expectancy by even one year is estimated to raise the trajectory of GDP per capita by approximately 4 percent.28 And illness has significant long-term implications for the productivity and output of a country’s economy. Healthy, well- nourished children miss fewer days of school and learn more. Healthy workers produce more, while adults with chronic illness may not even enter the labor force. Healthy parents invest more time and money in raising children. Fewer resources, combined with inadequate social safety nets, mean that health shocks have significant implications for households in poorer countries. Global health crises and pandemics also pose a significant threat to economic security—researchers estimate that even at current treatment levels for HIV/AIDS, the loss in GDP over the next decade could range from 2 to 4 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa.13 SHARED INTEREST: HOW USAID ENHANCES U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH | USAID’s Global Health Bureau invests in cutting-edge research for innovative health interventions, leveraging partnerships and strengthening health-financing systems of developing countries. Highlights include the following examples: • In 2015, USAID reached nearly 18 million children globally with nutrition interventions and provided support to nearly 6.2 million orphans, vulnerable children and families. • From 2000 to 2015, USAID contributed to an estimated 22 percent decline in tuberculosis-related mortality and a 21 percent decline in the global incidence of tuberculosis, saving an estimated 49 million lives. • From 2000 to 2015, USAID contributed to an estimated almost seven million malaria deaths averted globally and an estimated 71 percent decline in malaria-related mortality in children under five in Sub- Saharan Africa. USAID also works to fight pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Zika among others, which have had profound economic impacts and can contribute to huge losses in human life, capital and skills. Alongside implementing partners, USAID’s programs contributed to 20 percent fewer HIV infections than 10 years ago and led to putting more than 15 million people on antiretroviral therapy. USAID is also a leader in the control and prevention of infectious diseases, an increasingly important role as emerging diseases such as H5N1, Ebola and Zika threaten our health and economy. CRISIS RESPONSE: CONFLICTS AND NATURAL DISASTERS Sudden and unexpected catastrophes can result in a sustained drop in income and can compromise long-term growth prospects. Stabilizing countries in the face of natural disasters or conflicts reduces growth volatility, which improves medium and longer term growth trends. Low-income countries in particular have little redundant infrastructure and lack the economic resources to lessen the long-term impact of shocks.14 SHARED INTEREST: HOW USAID ENHANCES U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH | Conflict takes a tremendous toll on an economy. For example, the Syrian civil war has resulted in economic losses estimated at $20 to $38 billion in annual GDP capacity. Recovery from this scale of economic damage takes a long time. The negative impacts resulting from the destruction of infrastructure linkages necessary for production, trade and transport, as well as employment can persist for years. Instability from conflict can also pose significant threats to neighboring countries, affecting regional stability and growth. In addition, outflows of refugees and reductions in human capital development (particularly in health and education) can roll back development progress. Simulations estimate that even six years after the end of a civil conflict, GDP per capita will be at least 15 percentage points lower, on average, than it would have been without the conflict.29 The immediate negative impacts of natural disasters are alleviated with humanitarian aid and food assistance. In FY 2016, USAID responded to 52 disasters and programmed $1.4 billion in humanitarian assistance. Funds provided: assistance in active conflicts in Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and Yemen; drought response in Ethiopia and Southern Africa; and earthquake response in Ecuador. Food security deficits are often a serious threat to stability during both conflicts and natural disasters. In the face of food shortages, USAID provides targeted food assistance to address hunger and immediate assistance needs. USAID also invests in in long-term solutions to food security to reduce the need for costly food aid in the future and help entire countries become food secure. Threats to stability can also result from unstable political transitions. USAID manages these threats with rapid, flexible and immediate assistance, taking advantage of windows of opportunity to build democracy and peace by working with policymakers and government officials to lay the foundations for long-term development. USAID deploys election and governance experts to work with officials in nascent democracies emerging from crisis and political transitions to establish systems for the delivery of essential services, and institute sound policies that uphold greater transparency and accountability throughout state and local government.15 SHARED INTEREST: HOW USAID ENHANCES U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH | HOW USAID PROGRAMS SUPPORT U.S. SUPPLY CHAINS AND U.S. JOBS AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES Industries depend on raw materials from overseas. USAID works with partner countries to increase the production and improve the quality of their exports, including commodities that supply key U.S. industries. This is a win for development, and a win for jobs in the United States. Sometimes, as in the case of cacao, supplies from one region (West Africa) are growing in importance for manufacturing because supplies are diminishing from another region. USAID programs in countries that supply inputs to U.S. industries can prevent other countries from monopolizing trade in these key commodities, contributing to national prosperity. The coffee industry is a good example. This industry accounts for 1.6 percent of our GDP and nearly 1.7 million American jobs, yet little to no coffee is grown in the continental United States. Our geography is not ideal for it. Through Feed the Future, USAID works closely with U.S. coffee companies and smallholder farmers to integrate market systems in partner countries and the U.S. Through these programs, farmers in developing countries can access new markets, and U.S coffee companies have access to a steady supply of quality coffee. We are also working to combat diseases that threaten global coffee crops and are helping boost the amount of coffee that reaches markets each year.30 As is the case with coffee, cacao cannot be grown in the continental United States, yet it is essential to our confectionery industry, which has a direct economic impact of $35 billion a year—including $10 billion in U.S. taxes and $2 billion in exports. Feed the Future programs are designed to grow cocoa bean exports and improve quality, increasing incomes of smallholder farmers. This benefits U. S. producers and supports U.S. jobs. The chocolate and cocoa industry provides at least 70,000 U.S. jobs, involving suppliers, retail, manufacturing and transportation.31 In addition, U.S. chocolate companies16 SHARED INTEREST: HOW USAID ENHANCES U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH | further stimulate the domestic economy by sourcing domestically produced ingredients such as sugar and almonds. In Indonesia, USAID activities increase the supply, quality and access of spices in partnership with the U.S. Company, Cooperative Business International (CBI). They increase harvests, improve farmers’ access to international markets and improve the quality of high-value products such as vanilla, pepper, clove and nutmeg. CBI’s local affiliate, Agri Spice Indonesia, supplies Indonesian spices to Maryland’s McCormick & Company.32 USAID also helps connect Indonesian farmers to markets, and protect wage workers from exploitation. The bulk of the world’s rubber is produced in only three countries in Asia, including Indonesia. USAID works with Indonesia to create environmentally sustainable livelihood opportunities growing rubber trees, and to improve labor standards on rubber plantations. Rubber is a commodity that states such as South Carolina depend on to sustain its approximately 12,000 tire manufacturing jobs. TRADE FACILITATION Building capacity to expand trade is critical for U.S. businesses to be able to get their goods and services to, and inputs from, developing countries. The OECD finds that when countries build capacity to trade efficiently—that is, speedily moving goods across borders—it stimulates growth and increases incomes. The OECD estimates that with improved trade facilitation, trade costs could be reduced by 16.5 percent in low-income countries and 17.4 percent in lower middle-income countries, and that just a one percent reduction in global trade costs would increase worldwide income by over $40 billion.33 To modernize trading systems, USAID has supported trade facilitation in over 60 countries globally for more than a decade.34 This work involves: (i) improving customs valuation, automation, and electronic data interchange, including the automated single window; (ii) introducing risk management; (iii) promoting legislative reform; (iv) enhancing post-clearance audit; (v) improving logistics and transport services; and (vi) reducing processing times. CONCLUSION Growing the American economy by supporting economic growth in developing countries makes sense. It is an effective strategy for the U.S. Government. Of course, USAID programs do not support U.S. economic growth by themselves; they complement other programs financed and implemented by the countries themselves and other donors that encourage private sector investment and development. And economic growth depends first and foremost on the policies of the countries themselves, which USAID works hard to positively influence. When countries are ready to move forward economically, USAID programs can provide the needed capital, technology, ideas and know-how to assist them in developing and implementing their economic growth programs as well as improving governance and rule of law. As noted above, when countries face a shock or crisis, such as a natural disaster, pandemic or an outbreak of violence, USAID short-term assistance can help minimize the damage and get them back on track so growth can continue. USAID is both from the American people and for the American people.17 SHARED INTEREST: HOW USAID ENHANCES U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH | 1 UN, Food and Agriculture Organization (2011). Putting Nature back into Agriculture. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/80096/icode. 2 U.S. Department of State. (2017). “Annual Report to Congress, PEPFAR.” https://www.pepfar.gov/documents/organization/267809.pdf. 3 Arndt, C., Jones, S., & Tarp, F. (2015). “Assessing Foreign Aid’s Long-run Contribution to Growth and Development.” World Development, 69. 4 World Economic Forum (2016-17). “The Global Competitiveness Report.” http://reports.weforum.org/global- competitiveness-index. 5 Agricultural commodities are a major exception but they make up only 10% of total U.S. goods exports. 6 Actio. (2015). “The Size of Boeing’s Supply Chain.” http://blog.actio.net/supply-chain-management/the-size-of- boeing-supply. 7 http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=facts-and-figures. 8 All data in real terms, unless specified. Most figures are on goods exports only, due to gaps in services data. 9 Real growth of U.S. domestic exports (total exports less re-exports) from 2007-2016, calculated from USITC Dataweb, US BEA, and USAID Foreign Aid Explorer. 10 Calculated from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 11 Calculated from IMF Direction of Trade Statistics. World Bank (income classifications). 12 Calculated from USITC Dataweb, World Bank (income classifications). 13 Europe and Eurasia graduates include Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. Calculated from U.N. COMTRADE International Trade Statistics Database, 2016. 14 Calculated from USITC Dataweb and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 15 Calculated from U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration. 16 Levine, R. (2005). “Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence,” Handbook of Economic Growth, 1, 865-934. 17 Figure is calculated from the Credit Management Systems within DCA that monitors all guarantees and partnerships administered through DCA. 18 U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2013). “International Energy Outlook: Future World Energy Demands Driven by Trends in Developing Countries.” https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=14011. 19 CDC Development Impact Evaluation. (2016). “Evidence Review: What Are the Links between Power, Economic Growth and Job Creation?” http://www.cdcgroup.com/Documents/Evaluations/Power%20economic%20growth%20and%20jobs.pdf. 20 $490 billion of capital for new generation capacity and $345 billion for transmission and distribution, from McKinsey & Company, “Brighter Africa Report 2015.” 21 Energy at USAID. (2016). “Promoting U.S. Prosperity: The Case for Energy Investment Overseas.” USAID, Washington, DC. 22 Timmer, C. P. (2002). “Agriculture and Economic Development,” in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, 2, 1487-1546. 23 USAID (2016). “Progress Report: Growing Prosperity for a Food-secure Future.” https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food- security. 24 Field, E. (2007). “Entitled to Work: Urban Property Rights and Labor Supply in Peru.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(4), 1561-1602. 25 Hanushek, E., & Woessmann, L. (2010). “Education and Economic Growth.” Economics of Education Review, 60-67. 26 Hanushek, E. A. (2013). “Economic Growth in Developing Countries: The Role of Human Capital.” Economics of Education Review, 37, 204- 212. 27 UNESCO (2010). Education Counts: Towards the Millennium Development Goals. Paris. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001902/190214e.pdf. 28Bloom, D. E., Canning, D., & Sevilla, J. (2004), “The Effect of Health on Economic Growth: A Production Function Approach.” World Development 32: 1-13. 29 Mueller, H., & Tobias, J. (2016). “The Cost of Violence: Estimating the Economic Impact of Conflict.” IGC Growth Brief Series 007. London: International Growth Centre. 30 National Coffee Association of USA. (2016). “Understanding the Economic Impact of the U.S. Coffee Industry.” http://www.ncausa.org/Industry-Resources/Economic-Impact. 31 National Confectioners Association. (2015). “The Economic Impact Leadership of Americas Confectionery Industry.” http://www.candyusa.com/our-industry/economic-impact-leadership-of-americas-confectionery-industry. 32 NCBA CLUSA. (2015). “Cooperatives Build a Better World.” 33 OECD/WTO (World Trade Organization). (2015). “Aid for Trade at a Glance 2015: Reducing Trade Costs for Inclusive, Sustainable Growth.” WTO, Geneva/OECD Publishing, Paris. 34 USAID Office of Trade and Regulatory Reform. (2016). “Fact Sheet – USAID Supports Trade Facilitation.” USAID, Washington, DC.18 SHARED INTEREST: HOW USAID ENHANCES U.S. ECONOMIC GROWTH | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS USAID’s Shared Interest paper was developed through a highly consultative process directed by Dr. Louise Fox, the Agency’s Chief Economist, and by Robyn Broughton of the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL). Shared Interest is much stronger as a result of the Agency’s intensive engagement and the multiple internal and external rounds of review. The team is especially grateful to the many colleagues who took the time to read the document carefully and to offer their perspectives. Additional assistance was provided by Pauline Adams (PPL), Emily Benner (PPL), Hope Bryer (PPL), Polly Byers (PPL), Wendy Coursen (LPA), Mitchell Craft (BFS), Michelle Dworkin (LPA), Jeffrey Haeni (E3), Upaasna Kaul (PPL), Stephen Kowal (E3), Janeen May (Asia), So-Youn Oh (PPL), Patricia Rader (PPL), Curt Reintsma (BFS), Jeff Schlandt (USAID Data Service Team), Victoria Stoffberg (PPL), Jeffrey Szuchman (PPL), Ryan Tramonte (Power Africa), and Susan Wilder (PPL).
fshiels 