Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) joined Forbes senior editor Maggie McGrath to talk about Trump administration cuts to USAID, the risk these cuts pose to female students from Afghanistan studying abroad, and why she’s calling for members of Congress to have security training.
“Some 100 Afghan students who happen to be women are subject to the whims of this administration. And it’s confounding to be honest,” Houlahan said of the USAID cuts. “And it’s also in this particular case, it’s dangerous as well. So if those young women are sent back [to Afghanistan], it’s not only at the detriment of their education and their advancement, but it’s also in some cases physically dangerous to them to return to what amounts to an apartheid state for women.”
Houlahan represents a district of Pennsylvania whose constituents are worried about tariffs, the actions of DOGE and whether or not the government is working for them—a bipartisan concern.
“To come in and have what appears to be a singular group of unqualified humans come in and just, you know, hack away at these [programs]… It’s honestly fraud, waste and abuse,” she said.
Watch the full interview here or in the video player above.