Former Presidents Obama and George W. Bush, along with U2’s Bono, are reportedly sending off U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers with a poignant video tribute.
The ex-commanders in chief and the “With or Without You” singer appeared via teleconference Monday to speak with employees on USAID’s final day as an independent agency, The Associated Press reported.
In March, the Trump administration moved to formally end USAID, terminating employees and merging all remaining functions into the State Department beginning Tuesday. President Trump has accused USAID — which was created in 1961 by former President Kennedy and codified by Congress in 1998 — of being “incompetent” and “really corrupt.”
In a recorded statement, Obama referred to the evisceration of the international agency by the Trump administration as a “colossal mistake” and told staffers, “Your work has mattered and will matter for generations to come.”
“Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy,” Obama said, according to the AP.
“Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world,” the 44th president said.
“Sooner or later,” Obama said, “leaders on both sides of the aisle will realize how much you are needed.”
In his recorded remarks, Bush credited USAID’s staff with showing “the great strength of America” through their work.
“Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live?” Bush asked. “I think it is, and so do you.”
Bono, an international and humanitarian aid advocate who’s been a frequent presence on Capitol Hill over the years, reportedly read a poem he had penned about the moves to dismantle USAID.
“They called you crooks. When you were the best of us,” the rocker said.
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