Teresa Amabile: Gutting USAID is disastrous

Actions by the current administration’s elected officials and unelected operatives to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are disastrous on three levels: economic, diplomatic and spiritual. These actions, justified with a litany of falsehoods from both official administration sources and right-wing influencers, will result in economic pain for many Americans.

In addition to the USAID employees losing their jobs, American farmers will suffer because their businesses depend on USAID contracts for the food they produce. And the ripple effects could disrupt our national economy on a larger scale.

Foreign aid has always functioned as an important diplomatic tool for our country, generating enormous goodwill internationally and improving the health, safety and well-being of people in developing nations. The resulting increased stability of societies around the world has served to reduce the mass migrations that can be so disruptive, not only to the displaced populations but also the nations to which they flee, including our own.

Our government may pretend that the welfare of other nations is of no consequence to us, but that doesn’t make it so. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ instructs his followers to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the sick. Many world religions hold to similar teachings. The massive expansion of human suffering around the world that will follow the arbitrary destruction of the USAID is a spiritual abomination.

Teresa Amabile

Amherst