Trump administration has cut more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid programs

Donald Trump’s administration has announced the termination of more than 90% of foreign aid programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This is stated in a court filing, CNN reports.

“In total, nearly 5,800 USAID programs have been terminated, while more than 500 programs have been retained,” the document says.

The total cost of the remaining programs is about $57 billion.

In addition to ending funding for USAID programs, the administration also canceled approximately 4,100 programs funded by the U.S. State Department, leaving only about 2,700. At the same time, the administration said that another 297 contracts are under review.

The large-scale funding cuts are a serious blow to the activities of non-governmental organizations and contractors that have been implementing humanitarian and infrastructure projects in different countries. Due to the freezing of funds, many programs around the world have effectively stopped.

These measures are taking place against the backdrop of massive layoffs or furloughs of most USAID employees by the Trump administration.

The cuts in programs have been the subject of a lawsuit initiated over the administration’s decision to suspend foreign aid.

As stated in the court document, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made “the final decision on each program on a case-by-case basis, determining which ones to keep and which ones to terminate in accordance with the national interests and foreign policy priorities of the United States”.

However, the plaintiffs in the case dispute the claim that Rubio personally reviewed all decisions to terminate the programs. They point to the impossibility of a detailed analysis of thousands of contracts in such a short time.

Tags: USA