(UPDATE) WASHINGTON — The website of the US Agency for International Development (USAid) went offline without explanation Saturday (Sunday in Manila) as thousands of furloughs, layoffs and program shutdowns continued in President Donald Trump's freeze on US-funded foreign aid and development worldwide.

Congressional Democrats battled the Trump administration increasingly openly, expressing concern that Trump may be headed toward ending USAid as an independent agency and absorbing it into the State Department. Democrats say Trump has no legal authority to eliminate a congressionally funded independent agency and that the work of USAid is vital to national security.