Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the US was cancelling 83% of programs funded by USAID, as the Trump administration guts spending not aligned with its “America First” agenda.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) distributes humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in around 120 countries, and critics warn that slashing its work will affect millions of people.
“After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID,” Rubio said on social media platform X.
“The 5,200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.”
US President Donald Trump returned to office on January 20 and immediately ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid pending a review of whether the programs align with his “America First” foreign policy.
The order, and ensuing stop work orders, threw USAID into turmoil, halting the agency's operations around the world, jeopardizing the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.
The administration said it provided waivers for life-saving aid, but humanitarian workers around the world said the funding remained shut.
Thousands of staff were put on leave or fired and contractors terminated. The majority of those put on leave are not expected to be reinstated.
On Monday, the top US diplomat also thanked the staffers of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk, who has been conducting an unprecedented scaling down of the US federal government.
“Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform,” Rubio said.
A few hours later, Musk responded: “Tough, but necessary. Good working with you. The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept of State.”
His comments came after the New York Times reported that he and Musk clashed during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, with Musk accusing the top US diplomat of not carrying out deep enough staff cuts at the State Department.
At the meeting, Trump told his Cabinet heads that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing and policy at their agencies, Reuters reported. Trump denied the NYT report on Friday when asked about it by reporters.
Trump, Musk and Rubio had dinner on Saturday evening at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Sunday.
