A USAID/Foreign Assistance Call Sheet

A guide to protecting this important aid work

This is what I would call a special edition of the newsletter. I received this talking points sheet for calling your representatives and senators in support of resuming the work of USAID from a former student and they asked me to share it.

If you don’t know what’s happening around USAID, please check out this very informative coverage from Atul Gatwande in the New Yorker. He writes,

The impact has been calamitous. I know the effect on health programs vividly, having run U.S.A.I.D.’s Bureau for Global Health during the last Administration. For example, the U.S. has limited sight on infectious-disease outbreaks in many parts of the world, such as Russia and China. So U.S.A.I.D. has funded experts in neighboring countries, such as Kazakhstan, sitting between those particular two, to upgrade monitoring and share information on bird flu and other deadly diseases. That work has halted…

….This is not a pause. It is a destruction. And it’s all completely irrelevant to doing a “review.” Every Administration takes a top-to-bottom review of policy and spending and makes changes—even big changes, shifting the activities of whole agencies. But they act through constitutionally defined processes to make these happen—and work to protect people and institutions from harm. By both shutting down most of U.S.A.I.D.’s existing activities and purging the people who manage them, Donald Trump and his allies are eviscerating the entire structure.

Under public scrutiny and mounting pressure from Congress, Secretary Rubio did not rescind the foreign-aid funding freeze, but instead only issued a waiver backtracking on parts of it, including on some of the global health programs. “Existing life-saving global health assistance programs for H.I.V., malaria, TB control, nutrition, skilled birth and prenatal care, and immunization should continue or resume work if they have stopped,” the waiver says. However, it’s unclear how narrowly “life-saving” will be defined. The resumption is temporary. (How long is not specified.) Work combatting new disease outbreaks, eradicating diseases such as polio, and supporting contraception seems to be excluded from the waiver. Plus, the demolition of staffing already turns the agency into a shadow of itself.

The letter begins after the break:

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USAID/Foreign Assistance Call Sheet – Feb 1, 2025

Great news – the Senate and House Foreign Relations/Affairs and Appropriations Committees sent this letter to USAID Acting Administrator Jason Gray on Friday night (Jan 31)! The letter demonstrates a solid understanding of the situation at hand and the dire consequences if the Administration’s actions to dismantle USAID are not stopped. However, it is unlikely the Administration will take the letter seriously, even though by law they are required to respond. What the letter did not address are the ramifications for US companies, NGOs, small businesses, universities etc. in the foreign assistance community. Therefore, it is critical that we call our representatives to ensure they understand that, keep pressure on the Acting Administrator and raise these vital issues with the public.

This document includes scripts and contact information to call our representatives and voice our extreme concern. We and the organizations we work (or worked) for are their constituents, and they will respond to our pressure. Please, however, do not mention your organization without their express, written consent.

Tips:

· DC residents – call the Foreign Relations Committee members listed below (as many as you can). Note, this list only includes the signatories of the Letter. For additional members, you can go to the committee websites.

· Residents of states with voting members of Congress: Call only your representatives. Representatives in other states/districts will not care what you have to say (sorry, but true!).

· Please note: the message of saving lives overseas is not resonating with most members of Congress (sadly). The messages below focus on American jobs, health, and security. They will want to know how this is impacting the constituents who vote for them.

· The instructions can look overwhelming. Start by identifying your representatives (or those you are calling) and then look for the matching script.

· Call the Capitol numbers (listed below) for your Senators and Representatives first and ask for their Foreign Relations Advisor or Legislative Aide. If you are unable to reach that person, leave a message with the person who answers the phone.

· If no one answers or the voicemail box is full, try calling one of their local offices (listed below), although no foreign relations staff are likely to be there.

· It’s best to get a person on the phone, but if you can’t, you can read script for the voicemail.

· If you can’t even leave a voicemail (e.g., mailbox is full), you can use the contact form on their website to send a written message, using the same script as the voicemail script.

· Representatives need to hear from us over and over again to take and sustain action. Let’s get a groundswell going!

Signatories to the Letter

Member

Capitol

Alternate #s in the Capitol line is busy or the mailbox is full

Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH),

Ranking Member,

Senate Foreign Relations Committee

(202) 224-2841

shaheen.senate.gov/contact

Brian Schatz (D-HI)

Ranking Member

Appropriations Committee

State and Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee

U.S. Senate

(202) 224-3934

(808) 523-2061 (Hawaii)

Lois Frankel (D-FL)

Ranking Member Appropriations Committee

State, Foreign Relations, and Related Programs Subcommittee

U.S. House of Representatives

(202) 225-9890

(561) 998-9045 (Florida)

Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY)

Ranking Member

Foreign Affairs Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

(202) 225-3461

(718) 725-6000 (New York)

(347) 230-4032 (New York)

Call and Voicemail Script – All Signatories and Committee Members

· Hi/hello, I’m calling to thank the Senator/Representative for the letter the Senate and House Foreign Relations and Appropriations sub-committees for foreign relations sent to the USAID Acting Administrator on January 31.

· I hope and trust that the Senator also knows that the entire foreign assistance community is being devastated by the reckless, lawless and malicious actions taken by the Trump Administration.

· Mass layoffs are happening at US companies, NGOs, small businesses and university research programs.

· Organizations are failing, with ripple effects to landlords, suppliers and local businesses where they operate.

· These organizations do not have weeks and months for a review of the entire USAID portfolio to happen. The stop-work order must be halted now or there will be no foreign assistance community to restart the work when the pause is lifted.

· I urge the Senator and the committees to intensify their efforts through all necessary and lawful means to elevate this critical issue to the public.

· As you know, our national security is at risk, as is the health and lives Americans and people around the world. Please also remember that American livelihoods are at risk, too.

· Thank you again, and I will be closely following the committees’ actions on this critical matter.

Note: you can also ask what you can do to get the word out.

Your Senators and House Representatives

Senate: www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

House: https://www.house.gov/representatives (you can put your zip code in the box on the top right to get to your Representative.)

For the following Senators and Representatives, please use the script above for the “Signatories to the Letter,” because they are also Democrats on the issuing Senate and House Committees:

Senate (most members are on both committees)

House

Richard Durbin (D-IL)

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)

Senator Christopher Coons (D-DE)

Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI)

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

Foreign Affairs Committee foreignaffairs.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/ (note: you have to click on the “Democrats” tab to see those members)

Appropriations Committee/State, Foreign Relations, and Related Programs Subcommittee

Lois Frankel (D-FL)

Grace Meng (D-NY 6)

Norma Torres (D-CA 35)

Mike Quigley (D-IL 5)

For all other Senators and Representatives, please use these scripts:

Republicans and Right-leaning Independents

· I am calling to voice my extreme concern regarding the President’s executive order pausing foreign assistance and the subsequent stop-work and personnel actions taken at USAID.

· This pause is putting American lives and livelihoods at great risk.

· USAID programs are critical to countering violent extremism, supporting our allies in war zones, stopping deadly pandemics from reaching the US, and more. The pause is also giving our adversary China a prime opportunity to usurp our soft power in the world.

· And if that’s not enough, tens of thousands of American jobs are being lost, including in [your state]. Small businesses and other private sector companies, non-profits and university research programs are starting to fail, which will have ripple effects throughout the economy.

· I have no issue with USAID aligning its programming to the new Administration’s policies; however, these methods are reckless and dangerous.

· I urge the Senator/Representative to call on the President to rescind this Executive Order and pursue a more responsible course. Thank you.

Democrats and Left-leaning Independents

(If the staff have questions about what’s happening, refer them to the letter, which they can find on the Senate Foreign Relations Minority Press page. The key messages here are about American livelihoods and the dismantling of the federal government.)

· I am calling to voice my extreme concern regarding the President’s executive order pausing foreign assistance and the subsequent stop-work and personnel actions taken at USAID.

· I am very pleased to see that Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committees and Appropriations sub-committees for foreign affairs have sent a letter voicing their concerns to USAID Acting Administrator Jason Gray and demanding answers.

· But Congress needs to do more!

· This pause is putting American lives and livelihoods at great risk. Tens of thousands of American jobs are being lost, including in [your state]. Small businesses and other private sector companies, non-profits and university research programs are starting to fail, which will have ripple effects throughout the economy.

· But just as important, the new Administration is using USAID as a test case to dismantle the federal government, using likely lawless methods and following the Project 2025 playbook. If they get away with it, they will move on to other agencies.

· I urge the Senator/Representative to call on the President and Acting Administrator Gray to rescind the Executive Order, stop-work order and drastic personnel actions.

· I also urge the Senator/Representative to do everything in their power to elevate this critical issue to the public by calling out these reckless and lawless actions to put pressure on the Administration.

· Thank you again, and I will be closely following the Senator’s/Representative’s actions on this critical matter.

Please share widely.

Until soon,

Alexander Chee