On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration had completed its six-week overhaul of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting 83% of its programs. Rubio also stated that the remaining aid initiatives would be transferred to the State Department.
Later that day, a federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump had exceeded his authority by shutting down most foreign assistance programs. The judge explained that the administration could no longer withhold billions of dollars allocated by Congress for foreign aid. However, Judge Amir H. Ali stopped short of ordering the reinstatement of the thousands of terminated program contracts.
Rubio shared the news of the overhaul in a post on X, making one of his rare public comments about the historic shift in U.S. foreign aid policy, a process led by Trump appointees at the State Department and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams. In his post, Rubio thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.
On January 20, Trump signed an executive order that froze foreign assistance funding and called for a comprehensive review of U.S. aid and development projects abroad. Trump criticized much of the foreign assistance as wasteful and argued that it promoted a liberal agenda.
In his social media post, Rubio stated that the review of USAID programs was now “officially ending,” with 5,200 out of the agency’s 6,200 programs being eliminated. Rubio explained that these programs “spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.”
Democratic lawmakers and others argued that the shutdown of congressionally funded programs was illegal, claiming that such an action required approval from Congress.
In his ruling, Judge Ali emphasized that Trump could not disregard approximately $60 billion in foreign assistance funds allocated by Congress, which, according to the U.S. Constitution, holds the authority over government spending. “The constitutional power over whether to spend foreign aid is not the President’s own — and it is Congress’s own,” Ali wrote.
Despite this, Ali did not agree to nonprofit groups’ and businesses’ requests to restore the canceled contracts for foreign aid projects. He stated that the decision to proceed with specific contracts remained within the administration’s discretion.
Ali also directed Trump’s officials to continue paying the billions of dollars owed to aid groups and businesses, with payments being made at a rate of at least 300 per day.
Ali’s decision came after the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s appeal in the case.
Supporters of USAID expressed frustration with the broad cuts, which made it unclear what foreign aid initiatives the Trump administration was actually supporting. Andrew Natsios, the USAID administrator under President George W. Bush, noted, “The patterns that are emerging is the administration does not support democracy programs, they don’t support civil society … they don’t support NGO programs,” nor health or emergency response. “So what’s left?”
The Trump administration did not provide many details about which aid efforts abroad were spared, as it sent mass emails terminating contracts to aid groups and other USAID partners within days earlier this month. The rapid pace of the terminations, coupled with the lack of transparency, left USAID supporters questioning whether a true program-by-program review had taken place.
Aid groups reported that some life-saving programs, which Rubio and others had pledged to protect, were either in limbo or outright canceled. These programs included those providing emergency nutritional aid to starving children and clean water to displaced families in Sudan.
Republicans have generally emphasized that future foreign assistance should be focused on a much narrower interpretation of U.S. national interests.
The State Department, involved in one of several lawsuits over the quick shutdown of USAID, had earlier stated that more than 90% of USAID programs were being eliminated. Rubio did not clarify why his number of eliminated programs was lower.
The dismantling of USAID following Trump’s directive reversed decades of policy that had viewed humanitarian and development aid abroad as integral to U.S. national security, helping to stabilize regions, strengthen alliances, and build goodwill.
Following Trump’s order, Pete Marocco, one of his appointees, and Musk removed USAID staff worldwide, placing them on forced leaves or terminating their positions. USAID payments were halted, and contracts for aid and development projects were ended by the thousands.
As a result, contractors and staff working on a range of initiatives, from epidemic control to famine prevention, ceased their efforts. Aid organizations and USAID partners were forced to lay off tens of thousands of workers both domestically and internationally.
The shutdown left many USAID staffers and contractors stranded overseas, awaiting back payments and travel expenses to return home.
On Monday, the Trump administration informed USAID staff stationed abroad that they must return to the U.S. by April 6 if they wish to have the government cover their relocation costs.
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