US canceling 83% of USAID programs, Rubio announces

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that the Trump administration completed its six-week review of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), cancelling 83% of its programs.

"In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department," Rubio wrote on X.

He thanked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, and State Department staff for what he called a "historic reform" of US foreign aid.

"The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United State," he said.

President Donald Trump had ordered a freeze on foreign assistance funding on Jan. 20, arguing much of it was wasteful.

Aid groups warn that cutting aid endangers vulnerable lives and undermines US interests.

In fiscal year 2023, USAID, responsible for distributing civilian foreign aid and development assistance, managed more than $40 billion in federal spending -- less than 1% of the federal budget -- funding aid projects in around 130 countries, including Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.