WASHINGTON, March 11 (Bernama-dpa) — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has detailed a huge curtailing of projects managed by international development agency USAID.
“After a six-week review, we are officially cancelling 83 per cent of the programmes at USAID,” Rubio wrote on his personal X account on Monday, reported German news agency dpa.
US President Donald Trump had instructed Rubio to gut USAID and international development funding as part of his “America First” strategy and merge it into the State Department.
Of 6,200 or so projects, only around 1,000 are to be continued – in future under the supervision of the State Department. Rubio did not explain exactly which projects were involved.
He thanked the so-called DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) committee, which is driving savings in the government under tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Although Rubio explained that the cancellation of the USAID projects was carried out in consultation with Congress, it remains to be seen what role Capitol Hill actually played.
It is legally disputed whether the government can dissolve the agency without the express consent of Congress.
Also unclear is what impact Rubio’s announcement will have on an ongoing legal dispute over frozen aid payments.
Aid organisations are warning of drastic consequences from the USAID cuts. The loss of US support could plunge tens of thousands of people worldwide into existential hardship, they say.
–BERNAMA-dpa