Evangelical leaders turn on Trump over 'damaging and wasteful' foreign aid cuts

Some evangelicals on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with one leader calling the move “damaging and wasteful.”

As Business Insider reports, “at a press panel following” the National Prayer Breakfast on Friday — during which Trump spoke about “bringing God back into our lives” — “a group of faith leaders, including members of the evangelical community that has long been a base of support for Trump, said they were concerned about the president's recent moves”

Vice President of government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, Galen Carey, warned the president’s “indiscriminate stop-work orders issued with little or no advanced notice have created chaos and confusion on the ground.”

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“This is damaging and wasteful," Carey said. "Some of our members and partners are experiencing crippling cashflow crises, necessitating mass layoffs and abrupt termination of services with no time for responsible transitions."

The faith leader noted while “there are aspects of our foreign aid programs that should be ended and others that could be reformed for greater effectiveness ... this review and reform can be achieved without the wholesale disruption of the many programs that are working well and saving lives."

"We affirm the goal of eliminating wasteful spending throughout government but caution against hastily pursued measures that will prove costly,” Carey said, as Business Insider reports. “The abrupt closure of many effective aid programs will mean that some of the money already spent will have been wasted. Commodities will be lost and food will rot, medicines expire. Other supplies may be stolen or misappropriated because the staff and the partners are not allowed to receive them.”

Carey, urged Trump “to rethink the assumption that effective international assistance does not benefit our national security, peace and prosperity.”

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National Latino Evangelical Coalition President Gabriel Salguero likewise described foreign aid and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as "two key instruments" that can help Trump achieve his goal of being "known as a peacemaker and as a person who builds bridges."

Read the full report at Business Insider.