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Background
The Trump administration, with Elon Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has placed most USAID employees on administrative leave and ordered those abroad to return to the U.S. within 30 days. The administration is exploring options to reorganize or abolish the agency, potentially integrating its functions into the State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is overseeing restructuring plans, while Democrats are preparing legal challenges to the shutdown.
Resolution Criteria
This market will resolve YES if:
A majority (>50%) of USAID employees who were placed on administrative leave are reinstated to their previous positions or equivalent roles within USAID
USAID is reorganized under the State Department or another federal agency with a majority of employees retaining their jobs
This must occur within 6 months of their being placed on leave
The market will resolve NO if:
Less than 50% of employees are reinstated within 6 months
USAID is permanently abolished
USAID is merged into the State Department and employees are not given equivalent positions
Considerations
The resolution of this market may be affected by ongoing legal challenges
If employees are offered different positions within a restructured organization, this will only count as reinstatement if the roles are equivalent in terms of responsibility and compensation
Voluntary departures or retirements will not be counted against the reinstatement percentage
@BlueDragon I see a route in which the courts say the executive has to spend money already appropriated but could choose not to make further contracts and just slowly wind it up. Either way, it doesn't look great. Just a total unforced error that sacrificed so much good will and trust towards America, and hurt a ton of people in this sudden move.
@ChristopherMelton I tend to agree the damage is permanent and the suffering immediate and so so sad. But in pure pragmatic terms: the capacity within the federal government for providing strategic and operational human services is still fundamentally necessary.