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The sudden death of Lindsey Graham last weekend robbed foreign aid advocates of one of their most effective GOP champions in Washington, according to lawmakers and advocates who worked with the South Carolina Republican.
As chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing State Department funding, Graham blocked steep foreign aid cuts proposed during the first Trump administration, and after Elon Musk’s DOGE effort gutted USAID last year, Graham worked behind the scenes to restore much of the funding passed in February.
Graham “often didn’t seek or claim credit for that work” and used his relationship with Trump as cover to occasionally broker bipartisan deals, said former Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., in an interview with Semafor.
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., pointed to global health funding as one area where Graham’s advocacy made a difference. “Senator Graham understood the critical impact PEPFAR has had in saving lives around the world, and he understood the importance of reauthorizing PEPFAR,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
Elizabeth Hoffman, executive director for North America at the ONE Campaign, called Graham “one of the most consequential global health voices on the Republican side, precisely because he wasn’t always loud about it.”
“The question now is who is prepared to carry that commitment forward,” she added.
Malinowski, who worked with Graham on human rights funding during his time serving in the Obama administration and in Congress, was blunter about the vacuum. “I worry that there isn’t” anyone else who can play that role, he said. “Lindsey was the guy everybody went to.”