RESULTS’ rapid response to protect lifesaving global aid
In late January, the Trump Administration imposed a stop-work order on almost all foreign aid programs. The results have been catastrophic.
Congress has built and championed foreign aid programs in a bipartisan way for decades, thanks in part to our advocacy. Across the country, RESULTS volunteers are now meeting with their congressional offices, as well as calling and emailing. They are demanding that the lifesaving programs be reinstated and funding flow again.
RESULTS is uniquely placed to meet this moment. We are a nonpartisan organization with deeply engaged constituent advocates who meet with members of Congress of any political party. We speak with Republican, Democrat, and Independent lawmakers about poverty and foreign aid.
Here are three stories of volunteers raising their voices.
South Carolina: “Each day of frozen aid is measured in deaths.”
RESULTS volunteers from South Carolina were prepared for their meeting with their senator’s foreign policy staffer. With support from RESULTS, they arrived with facts about the impact of the foreign aid shutdown and a list of questions and requests.
“Each day of frozen aid is measured in deaths,” Heide Craig told the aide. “All the work that’s been done in the last decades has come to a screeching halt. Children going without food and medicine, women with AIDS who are pregnant will now give birth to babies with HIV. The waivers for humanitarian aid haven’t been implemented, and the payment system isn’t online.”
She asked, “How has the senator reacted to this?”
As far as the aide was aware, waivers had been approved and money was flowing. Heide, who has been a RESULTS advocate for 34 years, didn’t back down. “Do we have guarantees that the waivers are truly put in place?” she pressed.
Other volunteers reinforced the urgency. Marcia Wong said an entire year’s worth of malaria prevention was at risk, exposing 12 million children to the deadly disease. “We’re asking the senator to step up and be a voice in the executive branch,” she said.
Mary Lash pointed out that the U.S. is destroying trust. “Partners around the world have gotten the message that the U.S. is not reliable. We made this commitment, and we’ve walked away from it abruptly.”
Candace Fant added that the shutdown has affected American companies and organizations who partner with USAID and many Americans were being laid off.
It was a stressful meeting, the group said during their debrief. Their senator has an outsize role in funding foreign aid and has been a global health champion in the past. They were used to receiving some support from the office.
Still, there was a subtle change in the aide’s demeanor over the course of the meeting, especially when Candace mentioned the impact on the U.S. It was Candace’s first-ever lobby meeting, and she was unsure if she would have anything useful to add. But the aide thanked her. He also asked the group to pass on any information about how the shutdown directly impacts their state. Heide sent him details in a follow-up email.
A week later, The Washington Post reported that the senator and other Republican appropriations leaders had written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They were concerned that Congress hadn’t been notified or consulted when USAID’s foreign aid programs were canceled. They noted it was required by law. They also voiced concerns that funds were not “being quickly disbursed for vital programs that have received waivers.”
While we can’t know whether our intrepid volunteers played any role in the senators’ outreach, we do know they reinforced the importance of getting accurate information and of speaking up. As RESULTS’ senior policy associate, David Plasterer, said, “the arguments they made and the way they pressed the office was first-class advocacy.”
Indiana: “If there’s a disease like TB that you can eradicate, it’s a no brainer.”
Danielle Worland was feeling powerless about the state of the world. So she reached out to her cousin, Brendan Bow. Brendan is a policy analyst by day and a passionate RESULTS volunteer. He invited her to join his RESULTS Indiana group in a meeting with their Republican senator’s office.
“I’m very new to all of this,” Danielle said before the meeting. “I’m excited to get my feet wet. I would definitely love to pull from my personal experience doing health care.”
During introductions, Danielle told the staffer that she’s an exercise physiologist who works with people with lung issues. She saw similarities between her patients’ struggle with lung disease and the experience of tuberculosis (TB). TB attacks the lungs and is the deadliest infectious disease on the planet, even though it’s preventable and curable.
Danielle knew the senator supported funding TB programs, but now those programs were shut down. “If there’s a disease like TB that you can eradicate, it’s a no brainer,” she said.
Her cousin, Brendan, shared concerns over backsliding on diseases like AIDS and TB after the world has made so much progress. “RESULTS members have worked really hard on these issues, making the case that they need to be funded,” he said.
Like other RESULTS groups, they stressed that foreign aid funding was not flowing, despite assertions from the administration. They asked that the senator’s office monitor the situation and push for progress.
Steve Arnold, who’s been a RESULTS volunteer for more than four decades, brought the request home. “We believe a lot of Republican senators are concerned,” he said. “We understand the administration has the right to review programs to see what’s working and could be more efficient. But the pause is destroying programs that Congress has authorized funding for. In the most sympathetic way, we want to push our elected officials around the country to do more because it’s a humanitarian disaster.”
As the meeting came to a close, the aide addressed Danielle. It turned out that he’d worked as an exercise physiologist in the past. The two talked about their work. Danielle had made a positive connection.
The day wasn’t over yet. A few hours later, Brendan logged onto a State Department listening session on the future of foreign aid. More than 1,000 people showed up, hoping to comment both for and against. Crickett Nicovich, RESULTS’ Director of Policy and Government Affairs, was one. Most people didn’t get the chance. But just as the two-hour session was coming to a close, Brendan was called on.
“I’d like to highlight the importance of not backsliding on global health issues, specifically, and on economic issues. The pause on global health programs especially can have disastrous effects on the economies of developing nations,” he began. Then he shared an example.
Afterwards, Crickett exclaimed, “Our folks are out there and killing it. So proud and grateful!”
Washington: “When the meeting ended I felt hopeful, and I knew I couldn’t stop there.”
Twenty-four volunteers from Washington state filled the Zoom screen. They had gathered to be a force of urgency. They wanted their powerful Democratic senator — who is a leader on the appropriations committee — to strongly defend funding for foreign aid. They had compelling stories to share with the senator’s aide to demonstrate the need.
“Our son has served the United States for nearly 18 years overseas, in some of the world’s most challenging places — Liberia, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Vietnam — as an Economic Growth Officer with USAID,” Hilda Berlinguette began. She shared how her son helped entrepreneurs and farmers build businesses, create jobs, and lift their communities out of poverty. Her son had served in active conflict zones and during an Ebola outbreak, with his pregnant wife joining him.
“But now,” Hilda said, “he faces immediate termination and a forced return to the U.S., without benefits, without health care. At 54 years old, he will be thrown into an unstable market, with his decades of public service discarded. This dismantling of USAID is being carried out with maximum cruelty toward Americans who chose to serve their country.”
Jenna Fliesen shared that just a few weeks before she had been in the hospital, struggling to breathe. Fortunately, her doctor’s fears of TB turned out to be false. But then a friend’s daughter contracted the disease while studying in India.
“That’s when it hit me: TB isn’t just a problem in other countries. It’s here, and it’s spreading. Kansas is currently experiencing a TB outbreak, and cases are rising globally,” she said. “The pandemic set back TB control efforts, and now, with proposed cuts to USAID’s global health programs — including TB prevention — our ability to contain this disease is at risk.”
Afterwards, Jenna admitted that she felt really nervous going in. “Would my story resonate? Would it make a difference?” she wondered. “But as I was speaking, I could tell that there was an increasing acknowledgement that this isn’t just another policy risk. It’s about real people, real lives. And when the meeting ended I felt hopeful, and I knew I couldn’t stop there.”
It turned out the senator’s office was looking for stories just like these to highlight the issue. She asked the volunteers to email their remarks directly to her and to keep advocating.
“You can count us on for the information and also to keep pushing you,” long-time advocate Carolyn Prouty assured her.