The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development told Congress on Friday that they aim to “undertake a reorganization” of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which would “realign” certain USAID functions to the State Department by July 1 and “discontinue” the rest, which “do not align with administration priorities.”
“Foreign assistance done right can advance our national interests, protect our borders and strengthen our partnerships with key allies. Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated. “As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high.”
A “misguided and fiscally irresponsible era is now over,” Rubio said. “We are reorienting our foreign assistance programs to align directly with what is best for the United States and our citizens.” The secretary said that “essential lifesaving programs” will continue, as will “making strategic investments that strengthen our partners and our own country.”
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, stated that the “State Department will never again be in a state of waste.”
The committee posted a graphic, depicting U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, dancing while carrying a casket with the USAID logo.
Last month, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) wrote that “the fact that USAID spent millions on a non-profit that pushed anti-Israel and antisemitic rap songs is abhorrent.”
In February 2024, the Washington Free Beacon reported that Samantha Power, then the USAID administrator, refused to meet with Israeli envoy Gilad Erdan in May 2021, “saying that Israel must first reach a ceasefire with the Palestinian terror groups before being granted a sit-down.”
“The behind-the-scenes diplomatic drama reveals how the United States used back channels to pressure Israel into stopping its siege on Hamas militants—tactics that once again may be in play as the Biden administration pushes Israel into ending its current war on the terror group,” the Free Beacon reported last year.
James Fitzpatrick, director of the Center to Advance Security in America, stated at the time that “it’s disturbing that the first instinct of the Biden administration when faced with engaging an embattled ally was to defer a meeting until their efforts to defend their homeland were placed on ice.”
