The U.S. has significantly cut its overseas development and aid programs budget, with multi-year contracts reduced by 92%, or $54 billion, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.
On his first day of office, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring all foreign aid to be frozen within 90 days. The moratorium is intended to allow the government to review overseas spending to focus on filthy plans that are aligned with Trump’s “America First” agenda.
The review part targets multi-year foreign aid contracts granted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with the vast majority cancelled the majority in the course.
“At the end of the process led by the U.S.A.I.I.D. leadership, including batches reviewed by Secretary Marco Rubio himself, nearly 5,800 awards and the remaining $54 billion awards were identified as elimination as part of the U.S. first agenda – a 92% reduction in the agenda,” a State Department spokesman said in a statement.
The review also looked at more than 9,100 grants involving foreign aid, worth more than $15.9 billion.
At the end of the review, 4,100 grants worth nearly $4.4 billion were to be cancelled, a 28% reduction.
“The elimination of these common sense will allow the bureau and their signing and grant officials to focus on the remaining programs, find additional efficiency, and be more closely tailored to the government’s top priorities in the United States,” the State Department statement said.
The spokesman said the uncut plans include food aid, life-saving treatments, such as HIV and malaria, and support for countries such as Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Lebanon.
A federal judge provided all assistance to the Trump administration in less than two days Tuesday after a court order issued nearly two weeks ago was ignored.
According to U.S. media reports, the Trump administration filed a petition to shelve the lower court order, which was granted by Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court later Wednesday.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was created after a bill passed by Congress in 1961, with more than 10,000 employees working before the freeze, which caused shock and frustration among the people.
The agency announced on February 23 that it had laid off 1,600 employees in the U.S. and put the majority of the remaining employees on administrative leave.
During his campaign, Trump promised to cut federal spending and bureaucracy, a task he gave to top donor and close adviser billionaire Elon Musk, part of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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