WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic lawmakers on Monday vowed to do everything within their authority to halt the Trump administration’s attempt to close the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and fold its remaining programs into the State Department.

Half a dozen Democrats from both the House and Senate slammed the administration’s moves as “illegal” and as a “constitutional crisis” during an impromptu press briefing on Monday in front of USAID headquarters. The building remained shuttered to most staff on Monday amid the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown, which sources say has been led by senior State Department appointee Peter Marocco.

Several of the lawmakers who gathered on Monday warned that the administration’s attempts to hobble the multibillion-dollar foreign aid agency would deny lifesaving humanitarian assistance to millions and potentially destabilize conflict-ridden regions around the world, including the Middle East. 

“USAID has been invaluable pillar of US foreign policy and projecting American power overseas. Its elimination only helps our adversaries, Russia and China,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said. “What Trump and Musk have done is not only wrong; it’s illegal. USAID was established by an act of Congress, and it can only be disbanded by an act of Congress.”