Officials are shutting down a federal agency called the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with President Donald Trump’s blessing, Elon Musk said today.
“He agreed we should shut it down,” Musk said during a live session on the social media platform X, after saying he had spoken with Trump about the agency.
“It became apparent that its not an apple with a worm it in,” Musk said. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”
Musk added in a post on X: “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”
Here’s what to know about Trump’s unfolding shake-up at USAID.
What Is USAID?
Established in 1961, USAID manages the distribution of U.S. aid and other financial assistance to foreign nations.
The agency’s initiatives include humanitarian response to natural disasters worldwide, global health initiatives, climate and environmental programs, and an array of others related to economics, governance, and education.
In 2023, the most recent year with full data available, USAID distributed around $36.8 billion in global aid, roughly half of all foreign aid the U.S. distributed.
For Republicans, USAID is a prime example of government waste; many criticize it for lacking transparency and oversight in how it spends its nearly $50 billion budget.
Democrats are more supportive of the agency, championing it as a life-saving source of international assistance.
Its international objectives put USAID as an institution in direct contradiction to Trump’s foreign policy aims—which emphasize focusing taxpayer spending domestically.
What’s Happening at the Agency?
On day one, Trump signed an executive order placing a 90-day moratorium on all U.S. foreign aid disbursements to allow for a reevaluation of whether those payments align with U.S. interests.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio later allowed certain humanitarian aid to continue in the interim.
Between 800 and 900 contractors from the Global Health and Humanitarian Assistance bureaus have already been fired, a source familiar told The Epoch Times.
Other employees have been laid off as well, with the administration citing efforts by these employees “designed to circumvent the president’s executive orders.”
Trump said on Feb. 2 that the agency “has been run by a bunch of RADICAL LUNATICS and we’re getting them out ... and then we'll make a decision.” [delete]
Additionally, the agency’s website has gone dark, while USAID’s official X account was also deleted.
Republicans have long been critical of USAID. Now, Trump’s allies are making a dedicated push to dismantle the agency.
“USAID is a criminal organization,” said Elon Musk, a top political ally to Trump, in a post on X. “Time for it to die.”
Others, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have pointed to its grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is at the center of theories about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Others simply see the foreign aid as largely a waste of taxpayer money with too little oversight.
Merger With State
Outlets are reporting that USAID is on track to be rolled into the State Department, in a significantly scaled-down capacity.
Trump is reported to be planning an executive order that would do just that, but Trump and his allies have been tight-lipped about specifics.
Conservatives in Washington have long discussed the idea of merging the two organizations, with the idea being presented in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) seemed to verify that Trump was inclined to go in this direction, saying in a Feb. 2 appearance on CBS that USAID “is likely to be going to be rolled more closely under Secretary Rubio.”
He said he would support getting rid of USAID entirely, but made clear that the Trump administration had not made a final decision on how to go about it.
Thus, specifics about this merger remain uncertain.
Democrats Raise Legal Challenges
Democrats, longtime supporters of the agency, have already pushed back against Trump’s reported plan, saying that such an executive order would be illegal.
While it was created in 1961 via an executive order by President John F. Kennedy, the agency has been codified into law through Congress—raising constitutional questions about whether Trump has the legal power to dissolve the agency unilaterally without an act of Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a Jan. 31 post on X that the agency was “established in law to further our national security and spread hope.”
He said that dissolving USAID would be “illegal and against our national interests.”
Others referenced the ongoing fight for the developing world between the U.S., China, and Russia, arguing that aid disbursements handled by USAID serve U.S. geopolitical interests.
—Joseph Lord and Zachary Stieber
BOOKMARKS
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