By Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of Democratic U.S. lawmakers will introduce a bill on Tuesday aimed at stopping the Trump administration from using government funds to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development, the sponsor of the bill told Reuters, in the latest push to halt the president’s moves to close the agency.

The bill, which has not been reported before, also states that only an act of Congress can eliminate USAID as an independent agency and that any reform should be done in accordance with the law. Democrats have said President Donald Trump’s actions dismantling the agency are illegal.

Sara Jacobs, who is leading the bill co-sponsored by 15 other Democrats, told Reuters that the measure would bar the administration from using U.S. government funds to pay the salaries for those working to eliminate USAID as an independent agency, including employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, as well as other costs such as putting tape over USAID signage.

Although the bill may face an uphill path in both the House of Representatives and Senate, if it becomes law, the Secretary of State would have to certify compliance within 30 days of it being enacted and every five years after that.

USAID, the chief U.S. humanitarian agency, became the first target of the effort led by billionaire Musk to reduce the size of the U.S. government.

“It’s already illegal to dismantle USAID. What Elon Musk is already doing, it’s illegal,” Jacobs said. But the bill would add an extra layer, she said.

“If they spend a single U.S. dollar, which we know they have, in dismantling it, that is an extra layer of illegality.”

To become law, the bill would need to pass the Republican-controlled House and Senate and be signed by Trump.

“There are enough Republicans who have said that they care about USAID in the past that we could get to 218 if they … actually stand up to their president, who they know is breaking the law,” Jacobs said, referring to the number of votes needed for the bill to pass the House.

Hundreds of programs covering billions of dollars worth of lifesaving aid across the globe came to a grinding halt after Trump on January 20 ordered a freeze of most U.S. foreign aid, saying he wanted to ensure it is aligned with his “America First” policy.

Following the order, USAID staff were put on leave and told not to report to work at the agency’s headquarters, where signs were covered in tape or removed. The USAID website stopped working and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was named acting administrator.

A U.S. judge on Friday said he would enter a “very limited” temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s changes to the agency, but the fate of its staff remained uncertain.

USAID was established in 1961 by Democratic President John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War. Because Congress later established USAID as an independent establishment within the executive branch, the president does not have the authority to abolish it without congressional authorization, according to a report last week by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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