USAID officially dead, international aid will now flow from State Department, emblazoned with American flag

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has ceased implementing foreign assistance, and all remaining foreign assistance programs will be administered by the State Department.

"As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency," Rubio wrote. 

He said that July 1 will mark "the beginning of a new era of global partnership, peace, investment, and prosperity" both for Americans and for those around the world. 

A review of thousands of USAID programs undertaken by the Trump administration found over $715 billion in inflation-adjusted spending over the decades, Rubio said, adding that despite having "decades and a near-infinite taxpayer budget to advance American influence, promote economic development worldwide, and allow billions to stand on their own two feet," USAID "has little to show since the end of the Cold War."

"Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown. On the global stage, the countries that benefit the most from our generosity usually fail to reciprocate," Rubio said.

"For example, in 2023, sub-Saharan African nations voted with the United States only 29 percent of the time on essential resolutions at the UN despite receiving $165 billion in outlays since 1991. That’s the lowest rate in the world.

Over the same period, more than $89 billion invested in the Middle East and North Africa left the U.S. with lower favorability ratings than China in every nation but Morocco. The agency’s expenditure of $9.3 billion in Gaza and the West Bank since 1991, whose beneficiaries included allies of Hamas, has produced grievances rather than gratitude towards the United States. The only ones living well were the executives of the countless NGOs, who often enjoyed five-star lifestyles funded by American taxpayers, while those they purported to help fell further behind."

Rubio wrote that "This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests."

He later added, "We will not apologize for recognizing America’s longstanding commitment to life-saving humanitarian aid and promotion of economic development abroad must be in furtherance of an America First foreign policy."

He said USAID’s programs "too often" promoted "anti-American ideals and groups, from global 'DEI,' censorship and regime change operations, to NGOs and international organizations in league with Communist China and other geopolitical adversaries."

"That ends today, and where there was once a rainbow of unidentifiable logos on life-saving aid, there will now be one recognizable symbol: the American flag. Recipients deserve to know the assistance provided to them is not a handout from an unknown NGO, but an investment from the American people."

Rubio decalred that moving forward, assistance to foreign nations "will be targeted and time limited," and will favor "those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment."