Death, reform, and power: Rubio spars with Senate over USAID cuts

In a marathon day in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced a barrage of pointed questions, along with accusations that he illegally dismantled USAID and bears responsibility for aid cuts that have led to thousands of deaths. Rubio defended his decisions, saying that he was “very proud” of the changes the administration has made to USAID, such as cutting funds for male circumcisions in Mozambique, psychosocial support, a big cats YouTube channel, and social cohesion in Mali — “whatever the hell that means.” But he said the massive cuts to USAID programs, the merging of what remains into the State Department, and the reorganization of his own department doesn’t mean that the U.S. is abandoning foreign aid. “We're going to be doing foreign aid. We're going to be doing humanitarian relief, disaster relief. We're doing all the things we've done before, maybe not some of the same projects, but we're going to be doing all of it,” Rubio said. “The difference is, it's going to be coordinated out of the umbrella of the State Department, and it's going to be part of a cohesive, coherent foreign policy, and it's going to be driven by our embassies and our regional bureaus.” He claimed that despite the cuts, the U.S. will provide more foreign aid and humanitarian assistance than the next 10 donor countries combined, than all of the members of the Organisation for Economic and Development Co-operation, and far more than China. That’s a dubious claim. The U.S. provided $63.3 billion in official development assistance in 2024, according to OECD, while Germany, the second-largest donor, provided $32.4 billion. If the Trump administration’s proposed cuts are adopted — slashing assistance funding by at least 48% — it could fall out of the top donor spot and certainly wouldn’t surpass the $118.99 billion that the next 10 donors provided in 2024. The hearings with his former Senate colleagues turned testy at times, particularly when Democrats accused Rubio — and Trump — of trampling on the rule of law. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, challenged what she called Rubio’s illegal actions to dismantle USAID, cut funding, and remake the State Department without congressional sign off. “With respect to my colleagues, how long are we going to sit here and watch this silently? Are we going to roll over as Trump tramples our laws and undermines U.S. leadership, burns down what we have spent decades building, and let millions of people across our globe suffer and die?” she asked. “Or are we going to stand up, push back, assert our constitutional power of the purse?” Rubio shot back that “we have complied with the law on every step of the way.” He also took a dig at the judiciary, saying, “No judge and the judicial branch can tell me or the president how to conduct foreign policy.” USAID When asked if billionaire Elon Musk had his support in “putting USAID into the wood chipper,” Rubio said he signed off on decisions to dismantle USAID. “The [Department of Government Efficiency] team didn't do anything. I did it. I was the one that made the decisions. I went through contracts, literally spreadsheets, line by line” to look at what was canceled, approved, or amended, he said. That prompted questions over the fallout of those decisions. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, highlighted estimates from Boston University’s Impact Tracker showing the number of adults and children who have died because the U.S. discontinued funding. At the time of publication, those figures stand at more than 90,000 adults and 189,000 children. “I'll put the responsibility with you, since you're taking credit for it, rather than with Elon Musk,” Merkley said, asking: “How do you accept what you just put forward, that it was your action to cancel these contracts in this fashion, freezing funds, firing individuals, [that] has resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of children?” Rubio countered: “That's false. That's just not true. It assumes a near total freeze in U.S. foreign aid for HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases. There is not a total freeze.” “Are we going to roll over as Trump tramples our laws and undermines U.S. leadership, burns down what we have spent decades building, and let millions of people across our globe suffer and die? Or are we going to stand up, push back, assert our constitutional power of the purse?” --— Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, came to the secretary of state’s defense. He said Democrats were accusing Rubio of killing millions of people when they should “look in the mirror.” Graham, who has long supported foreign assistance, said Democrats had taken bipartisan goodwill and “pissed it away” by allowing liberals to take control and support wasteful diversity, LGBTQ+, and arts programs. Despite that, Graham said he still believes in the national-security importance of foreign assistance and that while he supported reforms, he seemed skeptical about following through on the administration's proposed 48% cuts. Lawmakers also argued that China was stepping in to support programs that lost U.S. funding, but Rubio dismissed those concerns, saying, “China doesn't do humanitarian aid. China does predatory lending.” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pointed to China funding demining programs in Cambodia and child literacy and nutrition programs elsewhere that were once supported by U.S. aid. “You can pretend China is not doing these things, but we have specific examples that show where this is happening,” Shaheen said. MCC and DFC Conversations are underway to expand the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, Rubio said, but he didn’t make any promises on DFC’s future. And the Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC, whose fate has been up in the air in recent weeks after the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, instructed employees to close most of its programs and lay off its staff, may get a reprieve. While Rubio said he saw some reporting that MCC was “being imploded,” the latest updates he had was that it was undergoing reforms to streamline it but not take it down. “The review is designed to improve it, not to eliminate it,” he said. Rubio, who serves as MCC board chair, didn’t shed light on rumored board proposals and actions related to the agency’s future. US State Department The top goals of the State Department reorganization is to make decisions “as close to the front lines as possible” and ensure that all the tools of foreign policy are in the “same toolbox,” Rubio said. He repeatedly insisted the reforms and reorganization were designed to make the State Department more efficient and bring more decision-making power to regional bureaus and embassies that best understand local needs. He bemoaned the State Department’s vast bureaucracy, noting that 30 to 40 boxes sometimes had to be checked off before a document could make it to him for approval. He said in the past, the State Department’s thematic bureaus and embassies were often at odds with one another and there were also disagreements between USAID and embassies. The administration has proposed a single global health programs account and a consolidated humanitarian assistance account. “The combination of these two things will allow us to deliver aid as part of the package driven from the ground up,” Rubio said. The administration has also proposed creating a new America First Opportunity Fund that would allow the State Department to “be more nimble in providing funds for specific programs that arise outside the normal cycle of funding,” Rubio said. He was challenged about how one $3 billion account could be sufficient to replace $9 billion in programs — including everything from countering China and Russia to aiding Jordan — to which he responded that there were inefficiencies and that the same goals could be achieved for less cost. He added that the goal of U.S. foreign aid has to be self-sufficiency. “The best foreign aid is foreign aid that ends because it’s achieved its purpose.” Specific programs • The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, appeared to still have broad bipartisan support. Rubio claimed that 85% of PEPFAR “is functional right now.” He said that earlier “hiccups” were related to issues with the payment system, not waivers, but that those had been fixed and money was flowing. But Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, pointed out that the administration has actually cut PEPFAR by 70% despite being required by law to spend money already appropriated for the program. • The State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues is slated for elimination but “we're not abandoning women's issues,” Rubio said, noting that the functions of the office would continue through regional bureaus, which will each have someone driving that issue. • Future support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which was on a list of programs to be cut that was shared with the U.S. Congress, is a bit murkier. “We haven't canceled U.S. support for malaria or any of these other communicable diseases or vaccines,” Rubio said, adding that some programs were canceled because they weren’t being delivered appropriately. The administration is also reviewing engagement with multilateral organizations to ensure that the U.S. has proper oversight and that they are the right vehicles to deliver relevant programs. “This is the kind of aid we want to continue to provide, but not through the existing mechanisms that we have found wanting, in many cases,” he said, though it was unclear if he meant Gavi specifically. • All lifesaving food aid and medicine programs have been turned on, Rubio said, adding that any impediments were related to issues with the payment system which have been resolved. Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, pointed out that the U.N. humanitarian air service, which is critical to getting aid in places, such as Chad where roads can be impassible, has lost its U.S. support. A waiver that “we reached out for” was denied Tuesday, Booker said, urging Rubio to consider funding the critical lifeline for delivering aid. Rubio said he didn’t know about the waiver or denial but would get Booker an answer. But he added, “Not every program we’ve ever funded is going to be funded.” • On food aid and agriculture programs, Rubio said a Senate bill to have the U.S. Department of Agriculture take over the Food for Peace program could align with administration priorities. Meanwhile, a determination hadn’t been made about the McGovern-Dole program. Rubio also said that the Feed the Future program, which is designed to improve agricultural efficiency so countries can better feed themselves, sounded like an “extraordinary thing.” And it would be the type of foreign aid he likes: One designed to end.