USAID ‘restructuring’ announced

Washington– President Donald Trump’s administration announced Friday that it will effectively ‘restructuring’ the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Today, the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) notified Congress of their intent to reorganize the Department by July 1, 2025, to recapture some of USAID’s functions,” said a statement issued by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The State Department plans to close the remaining work of USAID that does not align with the administration’s priorities. “Unfortunately, the benefits of USAID programs were too low and the costs were too high. The organization had long since moved away from its original mission,” he said.

After taking office in January, Republican President Trump signed an executive order suspending US foreign aid for 90 days.

Subsequently, USAID’s various programs were dramatically cut. And, some exemptions have been made for critical humanitarian assistance.

The aid freeze on the independent agency created by the US Congress in 1961 has caused shock and dismay.

Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee condemned the move in a statement, saying, “Not only would the reorganization make it impossible to implement any of USAID’s programs, the burden it would impose on the State Department would significantly disrupt its core mission.”

The statement added, “This proposal is illegal, dangerous, and wrong.”

Before the shutdown, USAID managed an annual budget of about $43 billion. That’s more than 40 percent of the world’s humanitarian aid. Most of its staff were placed on administrative leave shortly after Trump took office.

USAID employees were informed in a letter on Friday of the plan to eliminate all non-essential jobs, according to various US media outlets.

In the letter, the acting head of the independent agency USAID, Jeremy Levin, said that the US State Department plans to close most of USAID’s independent activities in the coming months. Agency