Rubio: 83 percent of USAID programs to be canceled

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that 83 percent of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) programs would be canceled, essentially capping a dramatic fall for the foreign aid organization under the Trump administration.

“After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID,” Rubio said on X.

Rubio said there were 5,200 contracts that were canceled that would have spent “tens of billions” of dollars. Those contracts did not serve the U.S. and in some cases harmed the country’s national interests, he said.

“In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18 percent of programs we are keeping (approximately 1,000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” Rubio said.

The secretary thanked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, who whom he'd recently had a reported clash, and his staff who “worked very long hours” to achieve the reform for USAID.

Musk replied on X that it was a “tough, but necessary” decision.

“Good working with you,” he said. “The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept. of State.”

Musk and Rubio reportedly battled last week at a Cabinet meeting over cuts at the State Department, underscoring tensions between Cabinet secretaries and the tech mogul. President Trump said the leaders of departments would have leadership over cuts they are administering after the clash.

The two joined Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night after the altercation, and appear to have been trying to show they are working together.

A former USAID official warned that cutting the agency’s programs could lead to “preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale.”

Contract terminations announced earlier this month will end grants for HIV treatments and prevention, tuberculosis, polio, malaria, Ebola and other diseases. Nutrition assistance for infants in developing countries also was stopped.

While the Trump administration looked to dismantle USAID, it led to a wave of lawsuits. In an emergency ruling last week, the Supreme Court refused to halt another judge’s decision that ordered the administration to release the $2 billion in foreign aid payments already owed to other countries through existing contracts.

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