The News
The Trump administration plans to axe more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts, underscoring the scope of Washington’s retreat from providing humanitarian assistance abroad.
Some $54 billion in contracts is set to be eliminated as part of the review, according to a memo and court filings reviewed by The Associated Press. The move will force thousands of US-funded programs across 120 countries to stop work, including projects aimed at fighting disease, eliminating poverty, and stabilizing conflict zones. A further $4.4 billion in grants was also cut.
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court intervened in a legal battle over nearly $2 billion in frozen foreign aid, blocking a lower court’s order that would have required the Trump administration to release billions in suspended funds by midnight. Despite promises by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to provide waivers for some contracts, projects credited with containing Ebola outbreaks and saving millions of lives through HIV and AIDS treatment have reportedly had their funding suspended, with one humanitarian official describing the move to NPR as “a global health massacre.”
Know More
The world’s single biggest donor, USAID has become the target of some of the deepest cuts as the Trump administration moves rapidly to slash what it sees as wasteful government spending.
Almost all staff have been fired or placed on leave following efforts led by US President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting chief Elon Musk to dismantle the six-decade-old agency. It marks a sharp reversal of decades of policymaking that saw international aid as a way to advance America’s interests abroad.