Redstate: USAID was created by Congress

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There are two significant clues that USAID, no matter its history, is not working under an Executive Order from the Kennedy Administration. The first is that the US Senate must confirm the USAID administrator and the deputy administrator. The second clue is that it has a budget that is not merely a line item under the State Department or some other agency.

But let's look at the proof. Kennedy's Executive Order 10973 named the USAID. But read the first line carefully.

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (75 Stat. 424) and section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

This corresponds to a Congressional directive, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. That law required Kennedy to create a foreign aid organization to replace the hodgepodge then in existence. The law lists a wide range of international aid activities required by Congress and directs the president to put those functions under a single person.

The President may exercise any functions conferred upon him by this Act through such agency or officer of the United States Government as he shall direct....

At this point, USAID was created by Congressional action, and the head required Senate confirmation.

Lest there be any doubt that USAID was a real agency, in 1997, Senator Jesse Helms sponsored the bill that became the Foreign Affairs and Restructuring Act of 1998. President Clinton signed it into law on October 21, 1998. The White House then implemented the act....

So, no, USAID wasn't created by Executive Order; it was created by law. An Executive Order organized it. That organization was modified by Congress in 1998, showing that it was an official agency. Its status as an independent agency was validated in President Clinton's order reorganizing some functions performed by USAID. From the beginning, the USAID administrator has required Senate approval and has had a budget.

Because Congress created the agency, President Trump will either gut it and leave the remnant alive or set off a direct conflict with Congress, which he may or may not want.

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