Senate Democrat asks government watchdog to audit Trump foreign assistance cuts

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is asking an independent government watchdog to analyze the consequences of President Trump’s foreign aid cuts. 

The request, to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), demonstrates one avenue the minority party is using to exercise accountability over Trump’s actions. The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. 

The GAO can examine how taxpayer dollars are spent and provide Congress and federal agencies with objective, fact-based information to help the government save money and work efficiently. 

In a letter to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Merkley requested a “comprehensive audit” of the foreign policy and national security implications of the Trump administration's deep cuts to foreign assistance, its shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and efforts to downsize the State Department. 

“Previous presidents have historically placed importance on foreign assistance as a tool to deliver national security value," Merkley wrote. "The Trump administration’s recent cuts have had severe humanitarian consequences and eroded U.S. influence globally."

“They have diminished America’s ability to project soft power, advance national interests, and maintain relevance in an increasingly competitive geopolitical landscape," he added.

In one of his first executive actions in January, Trump issued a blanket freeze on foreign assistance for 90 days pending an apparent review. But the administration sent out stop-work orders to thousands of foreign aid recipients, covering a wide range of services from lifesaving, life-sustaining and good governance that sent the aid world into chaos.

Over the course of a few months, tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led the effort to effectively shut down USAID, cutting an estimated 80 percent of its $40 billion budget and reducing the agency’s staffing by approximately 90 percent. 

And Merkley’s request for an audit also comes as the Trump administration is reportedly mulling plans for cutting the State Department’s funding by nearly half. 

The Oregon Democrat called for the GAO to examine the aid cuts effect on U.S. diplomatic efforts and global influence, examine economic and humanitarian impacts, evaluate how Russia and China are exploiting the absence of the U.S., and assess how staffing cuts at USAID and the State Department affect the planning, oversight, and execution of foreign assistance programs.

“Since the Trump administration has decided to retain a limited number of programs, I am concerned that U.S. disengagement will provide an opening for adversaries such as the People’s Republic of China to make substantial political gains, undermine democratic values, and create economic dependencies that will harm U.S. interests over the long-term,” the senator wrote. 

Merkley called Trump’s cuts “not only illegal, but unconstitutional.” Senate Democrats argue the executive branch holds no power to dismantle an organization — USAID — that was established by Congress or hold back funds appropriated by the legislature. But an appeals court last month ruled Musk and DOGE retained the authority to shutter the agency.

“While defendants’ role and actions related to USAID are not conventional, unconventional does not necessarily equal unconstitutional,” U.S. Circuit Judge Marvin Quattlebaum wrote. 

“And none of this is to say that plaintiffs will not be able to develop evidence of unconstitutional conduct as the case progresses," he added. "Time will tell."