The News
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he is now acting administrator of the US Agency for International Development, following reports that the Trump administration has brought the agency under the State Department.
USAID staffers were told to stay home Monday, and hundreds reported being locked out of its computer system overnight, The Associated Press reported. Others serving in conflict zones abroad reported losing access to protected security communications.
The move to effectively shutter one the country’s main foreign aid agencies puts a host of US-funded global programs at risk, including work on disaster relief, medical services, clean water, and energy security.
The agency is the world’s biggest donor: The US disbursed $72 billion in assistance in the fiscal year 2023, according to Reuters.
The move comes after two top USAID security officials were put on administrative leave Saturday for refusing personnel from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access to classified materials, CNN reported.
About 60 senior staff had already been put on leave last week for allegedly attempting to circumvent the president’s executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days.
SIGNALS
Trump sees little value in foreign aid, even if it aligns with conservative agenda
Trump has repeatedly criticized US spending on foreign aid, seeing it as a direct conflict with his America First agenda — despite it accounting for less than 1% of the government budget, The New York Times reported. That said, even right-wing groups like the Heritage Foundation believed the agency can play a role in promoting American conservative interests, such as countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative and promoting religious freedom. Elon Musk’s move to dismantle the agency — with Trump’s blessing — could jeopardize those objectives, however.
Can the administration legally move USAID into the State Department?
Despite Marco Rubio’s assurance that USAID has come under State Department auspices, it remains unclear whether the Trump administration has the legal remit to move the agency. “Wholesale dissolution of the agency or formal transfer of functions provided by Congress would require legislation,” one legal expert argued, noting that current law requires Congress to be consulted and notified for such significant restructuring. So far, congressional Republicans have seemed reluctant to criticize the changes at USAID. Democrats have been more vocal, with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hamp., saying a bipartisan group of legislators will discuss how to respond Monday, while Sen. Brian Schatz, D. Hawaii, warned he will block all of Trump’s State Department nominees until USAID is reinstated.
Combining USAID and the State Department may weaken US foreign policy
USAID and the State Department have disparate goals, and bringing them together will likely broadly undermine US foreign policy, an expert at the Brookings Institution argued. In the UK, previous government efforts to combine international development and the foreign ministry into the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office “undermined the UK’s international standing and the impact of UK aid spending,” a 2023 independent review found. A former USAID administrator argued that what the Trump administration is attempting to do now “would be comparable to merging Microsoft with ExxonMobil,” and would make US aid both more political and less effective.