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 wrote on the social platform X.

Rubio said there were 5,200 contracts that were canceled that would have spent “tens of billions” of dollars. He described those contracts as not serving the U.S. and, in some cases, harming the country’s national interests.

“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, with 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 was also stopped.

Friends of USAID, a volunteer-run newsletter supported by some USAID staff, accused the administration of failing to carry out a thorough and deliberative review of the programs it cut. 

“USAID Missions around the world spent the weekend working around the clock — at the Administration’s request — drafting program descriptions to explain what we do and why it matters. We woke up Monday morning to find out the decisions have already been made, before we ever had a chance to turn anything in,” the authors wrote. “Please explain how this is a fair, transparent, or thorough review. Explain it like I’m five.”

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.

Laura Kelly contributed to this report, which was updated at 11:42 a.m. EST