Over a matter of just weeks, the second Trump administration managed to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the world’s most consequential foreign aid agency. The majority of US humanitarian assistance is distributed by USAID, with smaller amounts disbursed by other departments of the US government.
In late February, the administration announced the conclusion of a truncated 90-day foreign aid review, slashing 90% of USAID and State Department foreign assistance programs. Nearly 10,000 contracts and awards — including those supporting health, food security, human trafficking prevention, and other essential services globally — were terminated, while USAID’s workforce was gutted from over 10,000 employees to fewer than 300.
The devastating scale and speed of these cuts have left many shellshocked. Since its founding in 1961, USAID has invested hundreds of billions of dollars towards combating hunger, disease, and poverty. But foreign aid is far from charity — it is a diplomatic tool stabilizing regions and fostering alliances. Without it, global instability is likely to grow.
How did we get here? Making sense of the debate surrounding USAID is far from easy. Let’s set the record straight.
1. Even Gutting Foreign Aid Completely Won’t Make a Dent in the Federal Budget
One of the administration's primary justifications for dismantling USAID has been alleged fiscal waste plaguing the agency — but these claims don’t hold up under scrutiny. In the context of the US federal budget, USAID spending barely even registers. In the last fiscal year, the agency disbursed $43.8 billion, adding up to less than 1% (just 0.7%) of the $6.1 trillion federal budget — substantially less than what most Americans think (who on average think it’s about 26%). To put its budget in further context: Since President Trump was inaugurated in January, special government employee Elon Musk’s personal net worth is estimated to have grown by more than triple USAID’s entire annual budget.
Yet because of the US’s super-sized spending power, this 0.7% constitutes 4 out of every 10 aid dollars worldwide, and is more than triple all annual private global development philanthropy combined. USAID spends this money on essential, life-saving initiatives, primarily health, humanitarian assistance, and strengthening local economies. In return for eliminating these initiatives, the US’s savings will amount to little more than a rounding error.
2. USAID Was Already Reviewed and Audited — Extensively
It’s entirely reasonable that US foreign aid be scrutinized to make sure it’s being spent efficiently and effectively. But the White House’s claims that the agency operated with little oversight and funneled taxpayer money into frivolous projects are unfounded. USAID has been subjected to rigorous oversight, including dozens of audits in the past year alone. (The Defense Department on the other hand? Not nearly as clean of a track record).
And despite claims of reducing waste, the aid freeze has left nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of food assistance stranded in warehouses at risk of spoiling. The abrupt program terminations have created chaos, leaving medical treatment and supplies undelivered and critical humanitarian operations suspended. These supposed cost-saving measures would appear to be generating more waste than they’re preventing.
3. Widely Cited Examples of Fraud Were Proven False or Out-of-Context
Administration officials cited several instances of apparent waste that indeed sounded ridiculous — until they were fact-checked. Many turned out to be false or misleading, and several involved the State Department — not USAID. In other instances, key context was omitted or even completely fabricated, such as when President Trump made a baseless claim that USAID spent about “$100 million on condoms to Hamas” (doubling a previous assertion of $50 million). The actual amount? Zero.
Other misleading claims mischaracterized how much of USAID’s funding went directly to on-the-ground partners versus recipients generally, or accused the agency of financially supporting the UK’s BBC when it instead went to its independent charity supporting local media outlets around the world that shares its name. Taken all together, it’s clear that this evidence fails to amount to the kind of waste that would justify declaring a Congressional agency a “ball of worms.”
4. USAID’s Work Supports the World — to the Benefit of the US
The work of USAID serves crucial humanitarian and strategic purposes, benefitting the world (and US citizens) directly. Just a few examples include the President’s Malaria Initiative, which is estimated to have prevented 2.1 billion cases and saved 11.7 million lives since it began in 2000. PEPFAR, the wildly successful anti-HIV/AIDS program initiated under President George W. Bush, has saved 26 million lives and lowered mortality rates by 20% in recipient countries. But foreign assistance programs also benefit the US economy directly — in 2023 alone for example, USAID purchased $2 billion of food aid from US farmers.
Dire projections of the escalating impact of losing USAID funding were spelled out in a series of memos by the agency’s acting administrator for global health (who has since been placed on administrative leave), as well as other organizations impacted by the sudden, sweeping freeze:
- Hunger and Malnutrition: Millions of children will be at risk as efforts to prevent severe acute malnutrition run out of life-saving nutritional supplies.
- Disease Resurgence: Contracts have been terminated to identify, prevent, treat and contain deadly diseases such as Ebola within countries to stop outbreaks before they can reach the US.
- Loss of Essential Services: Programs supporting maternal health, emergency disaster relief, and clean water access have been halted, leaving at-risk communities even more vulnerable.
5. Long-term Diplomatic and Security Risks Will Be Profound
The impact of all this chaos will only compound over time. As President John F. Kennedy argued when he urged Congress to create USAID, cutting aid “would be disastrous, and in the long run, more expensive” to US interests. “Our own security would be endangered and our prosperity imperiled.”
A specific example? USAID has funded counterterrorism initiatives and anti-extremism programs worldwide to prevent radicalization from taking root. In the Middle East, a security contractor was nearly forced to halt operations at a sprawling refugee camp home to ISIS members in Syria.
Meanwhile, the team charged with coordinating emergency aid supplies in crisis zones around the world now has only 70 staffers, reduced from more than 1,000. And unreleased reports by USAID’s internal watchdog office reportedly show that continuing to withhold funds will shatter crucial humanitarian services in the Middle East and Africa, even threatening the fragile ceasefire reached in Gaza.
Foreign aid programs not only save lives, they prevent conflicts from escalating, ultimately reducing long-term reliance on aid. Crippling them — without warning — promises to have devastating consequences that ripple across the world.
USAID Is on a Lifeline. What Can We Do?
The future of USAID now rests in the hands of Congress and the courts. However, lengthy legal battles alone may not be enough. If US citizens remain silent, there’s good cause to believe that this executive overreach will not stop with USAID. The same justifications used to cut foreign aid (claims of fraud, inefficiency, and waste) could soon rationalize deep cuts to domestic programs that millions of people in the US rely on, including Medicaid and food assistance.
It’s time to put pressure on our representatives in Congress to step up. Lawmakers must consider how they will one day explain why the US couldn't prevent a disease from reaching its shores, or why they said nothing when millions of children dependent on lifesaving nutritional aid were abandoned. US citizens must take action by contacting their representatives to ask them these questions, and demand the restoration of USAID. Now is the time to raise our voices and advocate for a government that values human lives everywhere.