WASHINGTON — House Democrats introduced a bill Tuesday to stop the Trump administration from eliminating the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Protect U.S. National Security Act is designed to ensure that any reformation or reorganization of the federal humanitarian agency be done in accordance with existing laws and in a way that maintains U.S. soft power overseas.

What You Need To Know

  • House Democrats introduced a bill Tuesday to stop the Trump administration from eliminating the U.S. Agency for International Development

  • The Protect U.S. National Security Act is designed to ensure that any reformation or reorganization of the federal humanitarian agency be done in accordance with existing laws and in a way that maintains U.S. soft power overseas

  • The proposed legislation says only an act of Congress can eliminate USAID as an independent establishment

  • The agency, and its $40 billion annual budget, have been a target of the Trump administration, which has ordered thousands of USAID employees to take administrative leave

“Over the past 10 days, Elon Musk and DOGE have shut down USAID’s website, closed its headquarters, placed thousands of staffers on leave and issued a stop work order on most foreign assistance — including life-saving humanitarian assistance,” bill author Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said in a statement Tuesday.

She said shutting down the agency “will be a death sentence for millions of people” who rely on its work for food and medicine and to prevent the spread of disease and terrorism. 

Congress created USAID in 1961 to administer aid to foreign countries to help them with social and economic development, but the agency, and its $40 billion annual budget, have become a target of the Trump administration amid its cost-cutting efforts. Last week, President Donald Trump said the agency was run by “radical left lunatics” and accused it of perpetrating “tremendous fraud.” 

The Trump administration ordered 2,200 USAID employees to take administrative leave last Friday. Following a lawsuit filed by a pair of employee unions, a U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary restraining order to pause that action and reinstate 500 agency staffers who were already placed on administrative leave. 

That restraining order lasts through Friday at 11:59 p.m. A preliminary injunction hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday.

The proposed Protect U.S. National Security Act says only an act of Congress can eliminate USAID as an independent establishment. It seeks to ban the use of federal funds to pay for Trump administration employees tasked with cutting USAID, including members of the U.S. DOGE Service, or so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk.

A ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, Jacobs said DOGE efforts to eliminate USAID are illegal. A total of 14 Democratic representatives from Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas, Rhode island and Washington are co-sponsors of the legislation, which is unlikely to pass in the Republican-majority House.

An email to USAID requesting comment on the legislation was not immediately answered.