Elon Musk: U.S. Agency for International Development will be shut down
US: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will be shut down, according to Elon Musk. The billionaire said that President Donald Trump “agreed” with him that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) should be shut down during an X Spaces live early on Monday.
In fact, I spoke with him many times. ‘Are you sure?’ We’re shutting it down, yes,” Musk said.
Outside of usual business hours, Newsweek sent an email to the White House asking for a response.
With USAID managing billions of dollars in humanitarian, development, and security help in over 100 countries, the United States is by far the greatest humanitarian aid provider in the world.
The Trump administration has been cracking down on the federal government and many of its programs, and USAID has been one of the organizations targeted. Foreign aid makes up about 1 percent of the federal budget.
Trump said that his administration would evaluate expenditures to make sure funds are allocated in accordance with his “America First” foreign policy when he issued an executive order on his first day back in office, putting an unprecedented freeze on foreign assistance that shut down many of USAID’s projects.
During the broadcast, Musk, who founded DOGE with the Trump administration to look for ways to reduce government expenditure, said that USAID’s work was “incredibly politically partisan” without providing any supporting data.
“As we dug into USAID, it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it but that we have actually just a ball of worms,” Musk said.
“USAID is a complete mess; nothing is good about it. And when there isn’t an apple, you have to essentially throw everything away.
“You must essentially get rid of everything. It must thus be removed. It cannot be fixed.
The president said to reporters on Sunday, “USAID has been run by a bunch of radical lunatics and we’re getting them out and then we’ll make a decision.”
“There are probably some arguments to be made about what could be important work that falls under USAID, but the fact of the matter is that it has been overshadowed by these bad actors,” Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said during the webcast. Therefore, let’s transfer any really excellent pro-American initiatives to the State Department. Let’s ensure that we have enough supervision.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, Democratic senators on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said the modifications to USAID seemed to be illegal.
“Congress established the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as an independent agency, separate from the Department of State, to ensure that we can deploy development expertise and U.S. foreign assistance quickly, particularly in times of crisis, to meet our national security goals,” they stated. “For this reason, Congress should, and by law, must, evaluate, consider, and approve any attempt to combine or fold USAID into the Department of State.
“Congress has also made clear that any attempt to reorganize or redesign USAID requires advance consultation with, and notification to, Congress.”
On Saturday, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on X that Trump “cannot unilaterally close a federal agency.”
Additionally, he said that by dismantling USAID, Trump and Musk were “doing the bidding of Beijing and Moscow.”. “China, where Musk earns his money, wants USAID destroyed,” he tweeted. Russia also does. Trump and Musk are carrying out Moscow’s and Beijing’s wishes. “Why?”
In other messages, he added: “This has catastrophic instant repercussions. Babies who are malnourished and rely on American assistance will perish. Programs to combat terrorism will be cut down, and our worst adversaries will become more formidable. Unchecked, diseases that pose a danger to the United States will spread more quickly to our borders. And the gap will be filled by China. Now that they can only depend on China for assistance, developing nations will make additional agreements with Beijing to gain control of vital natural resources, ports, etc. The US will become less powerful. Jobs in the US will be gone.
“Trump and Musk are ruthlessly and unlawfully dismantling USAID, a vital national security organization that saves lives, advances U.S. interests, and fosters peace,” wrote Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, on X. Their nefarious activities are seriously endangering the health of people, particularly children, and will undoubtedly result in further public health and migration problems in the United States, not to mention misery everywhere else.
According to Reuters, two senior aides to Senate Democrats said that members and staff had been gathering on Sunday and will reconvene on Monday to discuss potential next measures, including legal action.
As furloughs, layoffs, and program shutdowns continue in the wake of Trump’s suspension on foreign assistance, USAID’s website went down on Saturday.
