USAID cancels 83 percent of contracts for not meeting Washington's interest, says Marco Rubio

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had officially canceled 83% of USAID’s contracts and that his agency will administer its few remaining programs.

“The 5200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio posted on X early Monday.

The secretary said the State Department would assume control of the remaining contracts, “in consultation with Congress.”

Rubio said the cuts come after a six week review of all USAID programs ordered at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. The foreign aid agency was an early target of Elon Musk’s effort to slash government spending known as DOGE.

Rubio thanks DOGE's staff

In its first days in office, the Trump administration shuttered the USAID offices and froze all spending pending the review, interrupting programs around the world.

“Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform,” Rubio wrote.

The US Supreme Court last week reinstated a lower court order that requires the quick disbursement of as much as $2 billion owed to contractors for already completed work.