Foreign assistance can be done without USAID, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a post on X.
“Foreign assistance done right can advance our national interests, protect our borders, and strengthen our partnerships with key allies. Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago. As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high. Thanks to President Trump, this misguided and fiscally irresponsible era is now over,” Rubio wrote, as the State Department takes over many of the programs previously run by the US Agency of International Development.
“We are reorienting our foreign assistance programs to align directly with what is best for the United States and our citizens. We are continuing essential lifesaving programs and making strategic investments that strengthen our partners and our own country,” Rubio said.
This means USAID is closed and the legal challenges have failed. A federal appeals court overturned a lower court’s ruling that had claimed certain Department of Government Efficiency actions at USAID were unconstitutional. The appeals court allows DOGE to continue digging into waste, fraud, and abuse at the agency.
DOGE pulled back the veil on USAID’s excessive ideological leaning, including millions to fund diversity-equity-inclusion programs around the world. The blatant abuse of taxpayer dollars has led President Donald Trump to make the decision to close USAID and incorporate some of its programs into the State Department.
