The Trump administration announced plans to cut over 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in global U.S. assistance, revealing the extent of its intention to drastically reduce U.S. development and humanitarian aid abroad.
According to the administration, these cuts would leave only a few USAID projects intact, making it challenging for advocates to defend them in ongoing legal battles against the administration.
Details of the proposed reductions were disclosed in an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and in court filings related to one of the federal lawsuits.
Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a court order that would have required the administration to release billions in foreign aid by midnight.
These revelations highlight the administration’s significant shift away from long-standing U.S. policy, which has traditionally viewed foreign aid as a tool to promote U.S. interests by stabilizing other countries, supporting economic development, and strengthening alliances.
The memo said officials were “clearing significant waste stemming from decades of institutional drift.” More changes are planned in how USAID and the State Department deliver foreign assistance, it said, “to use taxpayer dollars wisely to advance American interests.”
President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk have aggressively targeted foreign aid in their efforts to downsize the federal government.
They argue that USAID projects promote a liberal agenda and are an inefficient use of taxpayer money.
On January 20, Trump ordered a 90-day review of all foreign assistance programs to determine which should continue, leading to an almost immediate halt in foreign aid funding.
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This funding freeze has disrupted thousands of U.S.-funded initiatives abroad.
Additionally, teams from the administration and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have placed most USAID staff on forced leave or terminated their employment.
USAID programs, widely praised for their success in controlling Ebola outbreaks and addressing other health threats, as well as saving over 20 million lives in Africa through HIV and AIDS treatment, remain among those cut off from agency funding, according to USAID officials and partners. At the same time, official notifications of program cancellations are being issued.
In federal court filings on Wednesday, nonprofits owed funds on USAID contracts revealed that both political appointees from the Trump administration and members of Musk’s teams are rapidly terminating USAID contracts worldwide, leaving little time for thorough review, as reported by the organizations involved.
“‘There are MANY more terminations coming, so please gear up!’” a USAID official wrote staff Monday, in an email quoted by lawyers for the nonprofits in the filings.
The nonprofits, among thousands of contractors, owed billions of dollars in payment since the freeze began, called the en masse contract terminations a maneuver to get around complying with the order to lift the funding freeze temporarily.
A Democratic lawmaker also weighed in.
“The administration is trying to push through Congress and the courts by declaring the completion of their bogus ‘review’ of foreign aid and abruptly ending thousands of aid programs worldwide,” said Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
A coalition representing major U.S. and global businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and former officials expressed their disbelief at the move. “The American people deserve full transparency regarding what will be lost — in areas like counterterrorism, global health, food security, and international competition,” said the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.
The State Department confirmed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had overseen the termination decisions.
In total, the Trump administration announced it would eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multiyear USAID contract awards, cutting $54 billion. Additionally, 4,100 out of 9,100 State Department grants would be cut, totaling $4.4 billion in reductions. A memo from the State Department, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, explained that the administration was responding to a federal court order which required officials to lift a monthlong freeze on foreign aid funding by the end of Wednesday.
“State and USAID acted quickly in response,” the memo stated, targeting a large number of foreign aid programs for termination.
Despite repeated warnings from the federal judge handling the case, Trump administration officials also announced on Wednesday that they were beginning to issue some overdue payments after more than a month without known disbursements. A few million dollars in back payments were reportedly being processed, owed to both U.S. and international organizations and businesses. However, the order from U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali to unfreeze billions of dollars by midnight Wednesday remains on hold pending further Supreme Court review, as noted in a brief order signed by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Judge Ali had ruled in favor of temporarily blocking the freeze on foreign aid, following a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups and businesses. An appellate panel denied the administration’s request to intervene before the Supreme Court could address the issue.
Plaintiffs have until noon Friday to respond, according to Roberts’ order.
The administration has also filed an emergency appeal in another case, contesting a lower court’s decision to reinstate the head of a federal watchdog agency after Trump had removed him.
(Source: AP)
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