Democrats press Rubio on USAID, State Dept. program terminations

Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Brian Schatz (HI) pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio over recent firings at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in a Thursday letter requesting his testimony before Congress on the matter.

“We are writing with grave concern regarding your decisions this week to fire or place on leave virtually all USAID staff, and to terminate more than 90 percent of USAID awards and more than 60 percent of State Department awards, including hundreds of millions of dollars for programs you exempted as critical to our interest or lifesaving,” Shaheen, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee and Schatz, ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State wrote in the letter.

“These actions are in contravention of the law, costly, inefficient, and will harm U.S. national security,” they added.

Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have sought to dismantle USAID, arguing most of its programs and work amounted to wasteful spending. The administration has sought to eliminate 90 percent of USAID's foreign aid contracts, and earlier this week gave employees 15 minutes to clear out their desks.

The block of USAID funding has stalled agency efforts to deliver food, stem migration and counter Chinese influence across the globe.

Democratic Senators say Rubio has been complicit in the agency’s closure.

The lack of compliance with the law, and the lack of communication and transparency, is unprecedented and not representative of the collaboration you professed, and we expected, when we confirmed you as Secretary of State,” Shaheen and Schatz wrote.

“Specifically, to date we have not received information or briefings we and our committee staff have requested, or responses to our letters. Additionally, regularly occurring briefings on critical foreign policy issues, like the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and the war in Ukraine are not taking place. This is even more critical now given reported terminations of programs impacting government and nongovernment partners across the world,” they added.

The two lawmakers urged Rubio to respond to their letters and appear before their committees to answer how the changes at USAID will impact national security.

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