Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the completion of a six-week purge of programs within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with 83% of the agency’s programs eliminated.
The remaining 18% of aid and development programs is set to be transferred to the State Department.
Driving the news: The purge, initiated by the Trump administration through an executive order on Jan. 20, aimed to freeze foreign assistance funding and review the tens of billions of dollars of U.S. aid and development work abroad.
- President Trump had criticized foreign assistance as wasteful and promoting a liberal agenda.
- The rapid dismantling of USAID involved the termination of 5,200 out of 6,200 programs, citing that these programs did not serve the core national interests of the United States and, in some cases, even harmed those interests.
