Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that the Trump administration’s review of programs at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been completed, resulting in the elimination of some 83% of the agency’s programs, The Associated Press reports.
In a post on X, Rubio stated that roughly 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs had been terminated as a result of the review. He further indicated that the remaining programs, consisting of approximately 1,000 contracts, would be transferred to the State Department for administration. Rubio thanked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and staff for their work on what he called an “overdue and historic reform.”
Rubio asserted that the eliminated programs had not served US national interests and, in some cases, had harmed them.
The review followed an executive order issued by President Trump directing a freeze on foreign assistance funding and a comprehensive review of US aid and development initiatives abroad. The administration has stated that a large amount of foreign assistance was wasteful.
Hours after Rubio’s announcement, a federal judge challenged the administration’s authority to halt foreign assistance funding. Judge Amir H. Ali stated that President Trump had overstepped his authority in shutting down most foreign assistance, adding that the administration could not withhold billions of dollars that Congress had allocated.
