On Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held what the majority-Republican committee calls, “The USAID Betrayal” hearing; placing the recent agency’s shutdown at the center of the hearing.
Most of the four-hour meeting was comprised of sudden interruptions from protestors and heated words exchanged between congressmen about spending priorities. Lawmakers like ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks prioritized the federal workers affected by the recent mass layoffs. American Foreign Service Association President Thomas Yazdgerdi echoed Meeks’ sentiments.
“That has affected 1,800 of our members, who are USAID foreign service officers, and has been incredibly disruptive to these officers and their families,” said Yazdgerdi. “They’ve had to come back within 30 days, which is really difficult when you have kids in school; they have to be taken out of school right away.”
