WASHINGTON — For the U.S. development community, 2017 was different.
Drastic budget proposals, hiring freezes, and murky reorganization plans sent development advocates scrambling. They watched a skeptical White House call for deep cuts — and the U.S. Congress emerge as foreign aid’s new center of gravity. Advocates responded to calls for reform with specific ideas about what it might include. They welcomed a new U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, while they denounced restrictive new policies and questioned the wisdom of scaling back proven programs.
On Wednesday President Donald Trump added one more dramatic scene to an already drama-filled year, threatening to end U.S. foreign assistance to countries that vote to condemn his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.