The Trump administration moved to formally close the U.S. Agency for International Development Friday and notified the remaining employees they intend to eliminate their positions.
After weeks of bashing the foreign aid agency, attempting to freeze its funding and initiating mass layoffs, the administration notified Congress around noon that it intended to move the agency’s remaining responsibilities, effectively shutting it down. The remaining functions would move to the Department of State.
“Foreign assistance done right can advance our national interests, protect our borders, and strengthen our partnerships with key allies,” Secretary of State Marc Rubio said in a statement. “Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago. As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high.”
Beginning on July 1, the State Department will be responsible for administering what’s left of USAID’s program, though it’s unclear which ones. Any of the agency’s functions “that do not align with Administration priorities” would be discontinued.
USAID cannot be dissolved without congressional approval. It’s likely the latest move from the Trump administration will be met with legal pushback.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump and leaders in his administration, namely Elon Musk, have accused USAID of improperly spending taxpayer dollars on unnecessary programs overseas. But they have consistently misrepresented USAID funding projects overseas. The agency is one of the largest aid agencies in the world and provides essential humanitarian relief to people globally. But the Trump administration has sought to dismantle it.
Many of their actions have been met with legal pushback. A federal judge in Washington D.C. had said earlier this month that the administration’s attempts to stop funding contracts likely violated the Constitution.
A USAID official who received a termination notice told The Washington Post that the administration’s latest attempt to close the agency is “now stating openly what they have been doing overtly for the past two months: shutting down an agency statutorily established by Congress and usurping the legislative branch’s authority as the only ones who can shut it down.”
Democrats and foreign aid advocates have criticized the administration for trying to use executive authority to dismantle the independent federal agency.
New York Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the administration’s decision a “reckless assault on U.S. foreign assistance” and a violation of law.
“The consequences of this reckless decision are already evident; China and Russia are already filling in the gaps created by this administration’s reckless assault on U.S. foreign assistance,” Meeks said in a statement. “While the administration claims it will retain some global health and humanitarian assistance functions, it is jettisoning critical work USAID has been doing – at Congress’s direction – for decades in sectors such as education, good governance, crisis stabilization, agriculture, and economic growth.”
“Furthermore, these plans violate the law, which requires that USAID exist as a separate entity. Presidents are not kings, and if the administration wishes to change the law, the GOP, which controls both the House and Senate, should pass one.”
