Viewpoint: Greed comes before human life
Sheila Hogan
Sometimes a policy decision is so reckless, so immoral, and so contrary to basic human decency that we have no choice but to name it for what it is. The Republican-led cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are not just a tragedy — they are an obscenity.
In March, Secretary of State Rubio — with the full support of the Trump administration and the silent complicity of Montana’s Republican Senators and Representatives — announced the cancellation of 83% of USAID’s programs. These are programs that have, for over 60 years, saved lives, reduced poverty, and helped stabilize some of the world’s most vulnerable nations.
The scale of harm these cuts will cause is staggering. According to a recent analysis published in The Lancet, more than 14 million people will die by 2030 as a direct result of defunding USAID programs. These include over 4.5 million children under the age of five. Let that sink in: millions of lives lost — not because we lacked the medicine or knowledge to help, but because we simply stopped trying.
From 2001 to 2021, USAID-supported efforts helped prevent nearly 92 million deaths across 133 countries. That includes over 25 million lives saved from HIV/AIDS, 8 million from malaria, 11 million from diarrheal diseases, and 5 million from tuberculosis. The funding cost for these programs? Mere pennies per day per American taxpayer — a tiny fraction of our federal budget.
Today, the United States is surrendering a leadership role. Clinics and food kitchens have shut down across the developing world. Lifesaving supplies — including bed nets to prevent malaria, nutritional packets for starving children, and chlorine tablets to purify drinking water — sit unused in warehouses. A recent investigation found that some people with HIV have been forced to go without medication because their only source of care, a USAID-supported clinic, closed overnight.
And yet, Republicans in Washington, including Montana’s own delegation, chose to gut these lifesaving programs. Why? To finance a $4.5 trillion tax cut scheme. Under the
“Big Beautiful Bill”, someone making $5 million a year will see their taxes cut by more than $340,000 — while a child in sub-Saharan Africa loses access to basic malaria treatment or HIV medication.
But the damage doesn’t stop with public health. The collapse of USAID’s development and crisis relief programs also means less global stability. When people lack food, water, and healthcare, they are more likely to flee, to migrate, or to be drawn into conflict and extremism. What we save in short-term dollars, we pay for with long-term instability — including increased security threats and humanitarian crises that inevitably ripple across the globe.
Foreign aid is not charity. It’s leadership. For decades, it allowed the United States to project soft power, build partnerships, open markets, and help struggling nations emerge as trading partners and allies. When USAID was fully funded, it supported American values abroad while creating healthier, more stable societies. Those countries, in turn, bought American goods, relied on American expertise, and looked to the United States as a global leader.
Not anymore.
Montanans should be outraged. We value compassion, decency, and practical problem-solving. We know that our strength as a nation includes our moral standing in the world. And we understand that it is simply wrong to trade millions of human lives for another round of tax breaks for the wealthy.
This isn’t about political ideology. It’s about what kind of country we want to be. Do we turn our backs on the world’s poorest, sickest, and most vulnerable people — people we could help, easily, at minimal cost — just to appease political donors and anti-government ideologues?
Our Republican leaders have answered that question. But we don’t have to accept their answer.
It’s time to speak out — loudly, clearly, and persistently — against this inhumane policy. We must demand that the funding for USAID be restored, and we must hold those responsible for these deadly cuts accountable.
History will judge what we did — or failed to do — when lives could have been saved for the price of a cup of coffee.
Sheila Hogan is the past Executive Director of the Montana Democratic Party