Musk announces plans to eliminate USAID
Push to slash spending meets resistance from lawmakers, civil servants
By: Eric Lagatta
Francesca Chambers
and Joey garrison
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Staff at the U.S. Agency for International Development were informed that its headquarters in Washington was closing Monday [02/03/2025] as tech billinonaire Elon Musk said he was in the process of shutting down the agency that oversees foreign aid.
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Musk claimed on social media in the dead of night that he had run the extraordinary mover by President Donald Trump and has his full backing.
..... "Agency personnel 'normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely ... with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership," state an early morning email, obtained by USA Today, notifying USAID staff of the closed office.
..... Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters in El Salvador, said he is the new acting director of USAID and has delegated the day-to-day responsibilities to another State Department official. He said many USAID functions will continue but they must be aligned with U.S. foreign policy and interests.
..... "USAID has sort of a history of just ignoring that and deciding that somehow they're a global charity separate from the national interests,"Rubio said.
..... The Trump administration does not have congressional approval to close the agency that administers foreign assistance, and the effort received swift push-back from Democratic lawmakers. Musk leads Trump's newly formed Department of Government Efficiency in a volunteer capacity and does not work for the federal government.
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
..... Musk made the announcement during an hour-long audio-only event Monday [02/03/2025]shortly after midnight on his social media site X. He said he went over the plan with Trump "in detail" and the U.S. president "agreed that we should shut it down" before he shared it publicly.
..... The announcement was the latest attempt at what critics condemn as a power grab by Musk and his aides at federal agencies. Trump, who took office two weeks ago, has tasked Musk with recommending federal cost-cutting through, the panel that reports to the White House.
..... On Monday, [02/03/2025] Musk called USAID "beyond repair" and "hopeless." In a post on X, Musk added that he had "spent the weekend [02/01-02/2025] feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could (have)
gone to some great parties. did that instead."
..... The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee said in a post Monday [02/03/2025] morning that neither Trump nor Musk had the authority to shut down USAID, an independent agency established by Congress.
..... "Not a single persons in the executive branch - not Donald Trump, not Elon Musk, and not any of their cronies - has the authority to shut down USAID, Congress created the agency by statute," Representative Gerry Connelly, D-Virgina, said in an X post. "We ask a lot of our civil servants. Today, [02/03/2025]
we ask of them another task - show up to work. Continue to serve."
Aid for disaster, conflict zones
..... USAID was created by executive order in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy singed the Foreign Assistance Act into law.
..... The foreign aid agency, the world's largest of its kind, has for decades provided assistance to countries whose residents are recovering form disaster or trying to escape poverty.
..... In fiscal year 2023, USAID disbursed $72 billion in assistance worldwide, Reuters reported. The funding went to everything from women's health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work.
..... USAID has a staff of more than 10,000 people.
..... Musk's latest comments about USAID comes after Reuters reported the Trump administration removed two top security officials after they tried to stop Musk's DOGE representative from gaining access to restricted parts of the building. The officials also refused to hand over classified documents, Reuters reported.
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Democratic lawmakers have objected to a private citizen like Musk being giving such broad powers.
..... "No one elected Elon Musk. As Donald Trump allowed Musk to access people's personal informational shut down government funding, Republicans in Washington will also own the consequences," Senate Elizabeth Warren, D- Massachusetts, said on X. "We must do everything in our power to push back and protect people from harm."
..... In the past week, [01/27-31/2025] more than 100 senior USAID career staff had been put on leave as of the weekend. [02/01-02/2025]
Trump: Musk 'doing a great job'
..... The apparent shutdown of USAID comes as Trump has ordered a global freeze on most U.S. foreign aid as part of his "America First" policy. Trump administration officials had also discussed bring USAID under the control of the State Department.
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Since taking office January 20, [2025] Trump has made it a cornerstone of his administration to overhaul and downsize the federal government by firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants. As part of that effort, Musk's team has been given access to or has taken control of numerous government systems.
..... Late Friday, [01/31/2025] Musk and his DOGE gained access to the Treasury payment system, as first reported by the New York Times - giving him a powerful tool to monitor and potentially cut government spending. The system sends out more than $6 trillion per year in payments on behalf of federal agencies and contains the personal information of millions of Americans who receive government payments such as Social Security and tax refunds.
..... Asked Sunday [02/02/2025] if Musk was doing a good job, Trump agreed.