House Foreign Affairs hearing probes USAID reorganization and funding pause amid partisan fight

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee pressed for a rapid review and reorganization of the U.S. Agency for International Development on Thursday, saying a broad pause and personnel changes are needed to stop waste and ideological programming they said betrayed U.S. interests abroad. Democrats and career officials warned the freeze is disrupting life‑saving programs and asked for clearer procedures to restart approved assistance.

The hearing opened with the chairman calling USAID a ‘‘betrayal’’ of American taxpayers and listing grant examples he said showed ideological mission creep. "The programs that USAID and the State Department has spent money on are indefensible," the chairman said, adding the committee would publicize videos and documents showing alleged waste. Ranking Member Gregory Meeks countered that removing career staff and firing the agency inspector general raises the risk of waste, fraud and abuse, and urged the committee to summon administration witnesses for direct answers.

The dispute centers on a recent executive action and implementation by the administration that placed a broad pause on many foreign assistance payments and ordered a review of USAID programming. Committee Republicans described the action as a necessary reset to ensure assistance advances American security and prosperity; Democrats and some witnesses described it as a blunt instrument that has left some programs unable to deliver on the ground while the waiver process and USAID's payment platform — known in testimony as "Phoenix" — remain constrained.

Witnesses called to testify included Max Primorack of the Heritage Foundation, former Representative Ted Yoho and former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios. Primorack said USAID had lost bipartisan support and had drifted into programs he characterized as "ideological," and he urged statutory and managerial reforms. Yoho and Natsios — both former officials with long experience overseas — said USAID can be a crucial tool of U.S. policy when it focuses on economic growth, health and humanitarian aid, but that the agency had accumulated mission creep and needs correction rather than wholesale destruction.

Democrats repeatedly pressed the panel on immediate humanitarian risks. Representative Nanette Barragán and others cited reporting that some Ebola and HIV funding transfers were halted not because waivers were denied but because the Phoenix payment system was inaccessible. "The Ebola funding and virtually all of the HIV prevention funding remains frozen ... because the payment system called Phoenix that USAID relies on to disperse financial assistance has been inaccessible for weeks," Representative Susan Jacobs said, quoting recent reporting and agency staff accounts.

Witnesses and members from both parties agreed on 1 point: many of USAID's most effective programs involve health, emergency food assistance and development projects that create trading partners and build influence. Testimony included budget breakdowns from a former administrator: of approximately $38 billion total U.S. international assistance in the last year, about $15 billion was described as humanitarian and emergency assistance and roughly $8 billion for health, figures used to argue that a large share of aid is life‑saving.

The committee did not vote on legislation. Members on both sides asked for follow‑up briefings and urged the administration to provide agency and department officials to answer committee questions in public session.

Congressional members and witnesses said next steps should include a comprehensive, bipartisan review rather than unilateral dismantling. Several members asked for improved transparency of award recipients and faster fixes to payment and contract systems so approved waivers could actually restart flows of assistance.

The hearing underscored a larger split over whether USAID should be consolidated under the State Department or reformed as a distinct, streamlined development agency. Republicans urged immediate central control and a restoration of "purity of purpose" — focusing on economic growth, humanitarian responses and projects that advance U.S. national security. Democrats warned a hasty purge of career staff and the inspector general removes the very oversight mechanisms that identify misuse.

Committee members asked witnesses and administration staff for additional documents and for officials from the White House and State Department to appear at a later hearing. Several members signaled they will press for statutory clarifications on which programs require congressional prior notice and which can be administratively restructured.

The committee recessed to consider additional questions and follow‑up testimony; members asked that formal responses be submitted in writing and for the administration to clarify the status of waivers for life‑saving work and the timeline to restore normal payment operations.