WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Wednesday it is slashing over 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and a total of $60 billion in U.S. assistance globally, revealing the extent of its plans to significantly reduce U.S. development and humanitarian aid.
The extent of the cuts revealed by the administration would leave very few USAID projects for advocates to try and preserve through ongoing legal challenges with the administration.
The Trump administration outlined its plans in an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press and in filings related to one of the federal lawsuits on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court intervened in that case late Wednesday, temporarily halting a court order that would have required the administration to release billions of dollars in foreign aid by midnight.
Wednesday’s disclosures also highlight the magnitude of the administration’s withdrawal from overseas aid and development assistance, and from the long-standing U.S. policy of using foreign aid to stabilize countries and economies, build alliances, and ultimately serve U.S. interests.
According to the memo, officials are “clearing significant waste stemming from decades of institutional drift.” The memo also stated that further changes are planned for how USAID and the State Department deliver foreign assistance, “to use taxpayer dollars wisely to advance American interests.”
President Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk have aggressively targeted foreign aid in their efforts to reduce the size of the federal government, arguing that USAID projects promote a liberal agenda and are a waste of money.
On January 20, Trump ordered a 90-day review of foreign assistance programs to determine which should continue, and immediately cut off all foreign aid funds.
The funding freeze has halted thousands of U.S.-funded programs abroad. According to reports, the administration and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams have largely sidelined USAID staff through mandatory leave and terminations.
USAID officials and officials with partner organizations report that widely successful USAID programs, credited with containing Ebola and other outbreaks, and saving over 20 million lives in Africa through HIV and AIDS treatment, are among those still without agency funds. Formal notifications of program cancellations are being issued.
In the federal court filings Wednesday, nonprofits that are owed money on USAID contracts claim that both Trump political appointees and members of Musk’s teams are rapidly terminating USAID contracts worldwide, without allowing time for meaningful review.
According to court filings, a USAID official wrote in an email to staff on Monday, “There are MANY more terminations coming, so please gear up!”
The nonprofits, who are among thousands of contractors owed billions of dollars since the freeze began, described the large-scale contract terminations as a tactic to avoid complying with the order to temporarily lift the funding freeze.
A Democratic lawmaker echoed this sentiment.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated that the administration was attempting to “blow through Congress and the courts by announcing the completion of their sham ‘review’ of foreign aid and the immediate termination of thousands of aid programs all over the world.”
A coalition representing major U.S. and global businesses, non-governmental organizations, and former officials expressed shock at the move. The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition stated, “The American people deserve a transparent accounting of what will be lost—on counterterror, global health, food security, and competition.”
The State Department stated that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had reviewed the terminations.
In total, the Trump administration reported that it will eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multiyear USAID contract awards, resulting in a $54 billion cut. Additionally, 4,100 of 9,100 State Department grants are being eliminated, resulting in a $4.4 billion cut.
The State Department memo, initially reported by the Washington Free Beacon, indicated that the administration’s actions were spurred by a federal court order that gave officials until the end of the day Wednesday to lift the Trump administration’s month-long block on foreign aid funding.
The memo said, “In response, State and USAID moved rapidly,” targeting a large number of USAID and State Department foreign aid programs for contract terminations.
Trump administration officials stated Wednesday that they were beginning to send out their first payments after over a month of no known spending, after repeated warnings from the federal judge in the case. Officials said they were processing a few million dollars of back payments owed to U.S. and international organizations and companies.
However, the order by U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali to unfreeze billions of dollars by midnight Wednesday will remain on hold pending further consideration by the Supreme Court, according to an order signed by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Ali had ordered the federal government to comply with his decision temporarily blocking the freeze on foreign aid, in response to a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups and businesses. An appellate panel denied the administration’s request to intervene before the high court took action.
Roberts said that the plaintiffs have until noon on Friday to respond.
The administration has also filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in another case, arguing that a lower court wrongly reinstated the head of a federal watchdog agency after Trump fired him.
—Associated Press writers Gary Fields in Washington and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.
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