WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the Trump administration completed a six-week purging of the US International Development Agency’s program six years ago, moving 18% of the aid development programs that survived under the State Department.
Read more: The Trump administration must pay nearly $2 billion in USAID and State Department debt.
Rubio made the announcement in a post on X. It marked one of his relatively few public comments about what was a historic shift from foreign aid and development in the US carried out by Trump political appointees of the state and Elon Musk’s government efficiency team.
Rubio of the Post thanked Doge and “the hardworking staff who spent so much time achieving this expired historic reform with foreign aid.”
On January 20th, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing a freeze on foreign aid funds and a review of all multi-billion dollar US aid and development labor. Trump accused much of the foreign aid of being in vain and moving forward with a liberal agenda.
Rubio’s social media post said Monday that Review is now “officially over,” with roughly 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs being eliminated.
These programs “expended hundreds of billions of dollars in useless ways that are central to the US national interest (and sometimes hurt),” writes Rubio.
“In consultation with Congress, we intend to manage the remaining 18% of the programs we maintain more effectively under the State Department,” he said. Democrats and others have called the closure of congress-funded programs illegal and say such moves require Congressional approval.
Read more: USAID workers clear their belongings after a sad final visit to an agency under federal security guard
Democrats and others have called the closure of congress-funded programs illegal and say such moves require Congressional approval.
USAID supporters said the cut sweep made it difficult to convey the overseas efforts that the Trump administration actually supports.
“The emerging patterns are that the administration does not support democratic programs, does not support civil society… it does not support NGO programs,” or health or emergency response said Andrew Natsios, USAID administrator for former Republican president George W. Bush.
“So what’s left?” asked Natsios.
Groups such as former US diplomats and national security figures denounced them for saying it was an opaque, partisan and a rushed review process, urging Congress to intervene.
“The facts show that life-saving programs have been severely reduced and millions of their allies are at risk of starvation, illness and death,” says Russia, China and other enemies, giving them the opportunity to gain influence overseas as the US Global Leadership Coalition withdraws.
The Trump administration has given little detail on which aid and development efforts have been spared, as it exempts from firing contracts heavily memorized to support the group and other USAID partners within the next few thousand days earlier this month. With a quick pace and measures skipped on the ending agreement, USAID supporters challenged whether actual program-by-program reviews were made.
Aid groups even say life-saving programs that Rubio and others have promised to get fired notices, including emergency nutrition support for hungry children and drinking water that provides vast camps for families who have been uprooted by the Sudan war.
Republicans have made extensive clear that they want foreign aid to promote a much narrower interpretation of US national interests going forward.
The State Department is fighting over the rapid closure of USAID in one of several lawsuits that USAID said earlier this month that it killed more than 90% of its USAID program. Rubio did not explain why he was low in numbers.
The dismantling of USAID following Trump’s order disrupt decades of policy that humanitarian and development aid promoted US national security by stabilizing the region and economy, strengthening alliances and building goodwill.
A few weeks after Trump’s order, Pete Marrocco and Musk, one of his appointees and members of the transition team, pulled USAID staff from work through forced leaves and firing, shutting down USAID payments overnight, and ending aid and development contract for thousands of people.
Contractors and staff who put efforts into the process of managing the epidemic to preventing hunger and training in work and democracy have stopped working. Aid groups and other USAID partners have fired tens of thousands of workers in the United States and abroad.
The sudden closure of USAID has stiffened aid groups and businesses with multibillion dollar contracts, according to the lawsuit.
The shutdown leaves many USAID staff, contractors and their families still overseas, many awaiting US payments and travel expenses.
In Washington, the sometimes contradictory orders issued by three men (Rubio, Musk and Marrocco) overseeing the cuts on the USAID have made much of an uncertainty about who is calling the shot, spurring stories of power struggles.
Musk and Rubio claimed that the relationship between the two is smooth, as Trump had last week.
“It’s good to work with you,” Musk tweeted in response to Rubio’s announcement.
“Tough but necessary,” Musk wrote of Rubio’s announcement about the cut.
