The end of USAID
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Hey everyone, I'm Rima Grace. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where we make today make sense. And I'm Kimberly Adams. Thanks everyone for joining us. It's Wednesday, July the 2nd. Yes, today we are going to get into some news and then smiles. Kimberly, you want to go first? What caught your attention today? Yeah, this is actually a story from a couple, I guess it was yesterday, a couple days ago, Monday, I can't remember, but I've been paying so much attention to

To the reconciliation package, obviously the Senate passed it. The House is working on it now. There's a lot of other news in Washington that kind of just slipped under the radar, like the fact that USAID, our foreign aid, what used to be our foreign aid department, is officially gone. It's officially gone. It's big news.

Yeah, there were big cuts to this program when Doge first rolled out and there were a lot of fights over it. But it's really been dismantled. It's gone. And so, you know...

On Monday, they had their final day at the agency, and a lot of folks just said goodbye. One thing that was interesting is both former President Bush and former President Obama both sent messages to the U.S. AID staff on their last day thanking them for their work. And George Bush barely ever says anything publicly these days about anything politics-related. And it wasn't a super...

political message, but I think it's notable that, you know, a Republican president did send a note to thank this team and a really challenging time. We talked a lot about USAID and it being dismantled when those cuts first happened. And, you know, the Trump administration says that there's very little to show for the agency, but there was a story in the Associated Press that highlights some of the work that, you

It's done. And according to a Lancet medical study published on Monday, researchers credited USAID programs with preventing 91 million deaths in the first two decades of the century alone. Wow.

And then I've seen other reporting. This is in NBC News. I think it was in that same Lancet article highlighting the fact that the cuts could lead to 14 million deaths over the next five years, particularly with more deaths from diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Now, that assumes no one else steps in. And this seems to be a real opportunity that China is certainly eyeing to continue.

USAID was really our soft power, one of the many levers of soft power that we have globally, including our culture. But USAID was a big one, and I think you are going to see other countries step in

And what does it mean that in many of these countries, they are going to associate the United States now rather than with help, but with abandonment potentially. And then somebody else comes in and, you know, saves the day if anybody saves the day at all. We've already seen the reporting about deaths that have already been attributed to USAID cuts. And, you know, hoping that doesn't radicalize people in other parts of the world. Right.

Yeah, I was reading up on it this morning too. And yeah, like you said, it was a thing that started in the 1960s. It was started by President JFK in Congress, because like you said, they really thought that foreign aid was a tool of diplomacy. And also that it was an economic obligation of ours as a wealthy country to help others. And, you know, just to be clear,

My understanding is that the Trump administration officially canceled 83 percent of U.S. foreign aid contracts. So there are remaining like I think a thousand or so contracts that would be absorbed by the State Department or will be absorbed by the State Department. There another area where the U.S. has been cutting grants is in pro-democracy grants. The State Department has cut almost all of its, as I understand it, pro-democracy grants for pro-democracy programs.

Yeah. And I've also been following what's happening in Sudan. I don't feel like it's getting as much coverage as it should. Because, you know, after more than two years of civil war there, the humanitarian crisis is just so devastating. And that's one of the places that will really feel and has already felt the brunt of these cuts.

Disease and famine are spreading fast. I've read that more than half of the country's 50 million people urgently need help. You know, millions have already fled their homes. And USAID funded programs were a lifeline. You know, we're talking about things like soup kitchens that had to shut down, critical medical supplies that never made it. And, you know, that's made it harder to contain disease outbreaks. So, yeah.

And, you know, like you said, we'll see if other countries step in to fill the gap. But it is it's very real how much this is impacting people on the ground who are already struggling just to survive. Yeah, that NBC News article also cites a model from a Boston University researcher that estimates the funding cuts already for U.S. aid and support organizations are leading to 88 deaths per hour.

No, my God. Yeah, it's really hard for me to wrap my head around all this. Yeah. What is your news? Okay, so my let's talk about my news. So I've mentioned on the show before that I was an education reporter for a few years in North Carolina for the public radio station down there. And so I still try to keep up with what's going on in that world. And folks may have seen some headlines this week around the Trump administration withholding federal money from schools.

And I just wanted to give it a little context. So each year on July 1, by law, states get the bulk of the federal education money Congress allocated for the upcoming school year. So yesterday, schools were expected to get about $7 billion in federal funding to help pay for things like after school programs and support for students learning English, money for teacher training.

And the Trump administration has not released the money. It's not really giving a satisfying answer as to why it just says that the funds are under review with no timeline for when or if the money will be released. You know, if this drags, I imagine people are going to challenge this in court because, like I said, the money has been appropriated by Congress and was approved by Trump in March.

And this, you know, this is, of course, on top of all the other headlines we've seen this year so far around the administration's really aggressive approach to cutting back the federal government's role in education, including wanting to get rid of the Education Department altogether, which is a thing that only Congress can do. But the Trump administration has already significantly cut back staffing and funding.

So the news this week, it's creating a lot of chaos among school districts, you know, just weeks before the start of school in a lot of places. Some after school programs are entirely funded through federal dollars. So yeah, I think the thing I keep thinking about when reading these stories is just that, you know, again, even if the money eventually comes through tomorrow or next week or whenever, it still can make it hard for schools to hire staff before the start of the school year, or they'll have to like, you know, get creative to find other ways because it's

A district can't just snap its fingers and hire teachers or set up these programs overnight. Like they spend a lot of time planning, figuring out staffing and resources and schedules, all based on the assumption that funding will come through when it's supposed to. And yeah, so I've been following that story and we'll see what happens.

And if that funding doesn't come through, will the states step in to fill the gap? And where does that money come from? Does it come because they cut other programs or do they raise taxes? One of the things that's come up quite a bit in these discussions of the Medicaid and SNAP cuts that Congress is proposing or the GOP and Congress, I should say, are proposing in the reconciliation bill is how do you close that gap?

You either raise taxes or you cut other programs. What programs are you going to cut? What taxes are you going to raise? Where does that revenue come from? Or do people just go without? And it's going to be a very interesting time in state legislature sessions where

Yeah.

Yeah, I think you're right. And I do think it taps into this bigger longstanding tension in American education, which is how much of a role the federal government should play in public schools, because

Right now, local and state dollars fund most of public education, and the federal government provides about 10 to 13 percent of total funding. And the federal government has historically stepped in to try to level the playing field to help low-income students or English learners or students with disabilities. And so, yeah, what we're seeing right now is part of a broader effort to shrink that role, and it's creating a lot of uncertainty. And like you said, who knows what's going to happen.

you know, that that state and local governments are going to end up scrambling or might have to end up scrambling to fill in those gaps even more. All right, let's move on. I like yours. Let's why don't you go first? All right. So mine is about the WNBA. So it just announced that it's expanding.

pretty, you know, in a pretty big way. The league's adding five new teams over the next five years. Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia are the latest cities getting franchises. So they're joining Toronto and Portland, which is where I live. They were already in the works. So by the end of the decade, we'll have 18 teams, which is a record for the league. And

It's just it's fun to see women's basketball having this moment. I've been seeing the headlines about how the WNBA has been breaking records and attendance and viewership, which is really amazing. And now it's growing its footprint in this really big way. And yeah, the league's commissioner called it not just an expansion, but an evolution. And I kind of love that. More teams, more opportunities for players, more chances for young fans to feel inspired and get into the sport. I thought that was something to smile about.

It's making me smile. I like it. Maybe I'll check out a WNBA game here. Do you know when the Portland team is going to, like, actually be ready to play? I know. As you're asking that, I'm Googling it to see because I am curious. Hopefully soon. Yeah. I'm not sure. Hopefully soon. Yeah. Well, my smile is...

is related to a book that I loved called Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I know Kai and I have talked about this on the show in the past. It's a great book, a lot of fun. And apparently they're making it into a movie. So there was already another movie about...

From an Andy Weir book that many people will know, The Martian. And so now they're doing a movie about Project Hail Mary. It's coming out March of 2026. I'm very excited about it. Ryan Gosling is starring in it. And I think it's going to be really interesting because...

The main character spends a lot of the book not being the most, shall we say, admirable of characters, which makes it more relatable. I'm looking forward to the movie, so I'm pretty excited about this. When does it come out? March of 2026. Oh, okay. So this is still going to be a while, but that's still fun. Yeah, the trailer came out, which is why I'm talking about it. Have you seen any movies recently? No.

I haven't seen any movies lately, but I've got sort of on my list to rent to watch Sinners because I meant to go see it in the theaters. Me too. I want to see that. And I have heard enough people who are like. Oh, that it's a little scary, right? Yeah. But enough people have told me that it's not like scary and it doesn't have like the jump scares that I think I can watch it. But I'm going to watch it at home. So you can do it.

Yeah, so I can get up and walk away if I need to and take little breaks. So I'm planning, maybe I'll do that over the holiday weekend, rent the movie and watch it here at home. Yeah, yeah. I want to go to the theaters. It's been a while since I've been. I was going to go the other week to see the Friendship movie, but then the weather was just so nice out. And I was like, I really don't want to be inside when I could be enjoying the sun. But maybe I'll check that out.

All right, that's it for us today. We'll be back tomorrow. But let's keep the conversation going. As always, send your thoughts, your comments, your questions, your suggestions to make me smart at marketplace.org. Or you can leave a voicemail at 508 you be smart. Make me smart is produced by Courtney Burke Seeger. Today's program was engineered by Charlton Thorpe. Daisy Palacios is our supervising senior producer. Nancy Fergali is executive producer of marketplace shows and Joanne Griffith is our chief content officer. Have you heard anything about the friendship movie?

No. It's supposed to be weird. That's all I know about it. Oh, okay. This Old House Radio Hour is your new home improvement podcast. In each episode, we answer your questions. Whether you're fixing a leak, refinishing a floor, or restoring a century-old house, our roster of experts have the answers to help you get the job done right. I never thought I'd be saying this to enough people I'm just meeting, but I have a stinky house. Tell us more. I want the details.

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