State reviewed more than 9,100 grants, identifying over 4,000 of them for elimination.
The State Department identified approximately $60 billion in cuts to U.S. foreign assistance as part of its ongoing aid review, National Review has learned.
State reviewed more than 9,100 grants, identifying for elimination over 4,000 of them — worth $4.4 billion — according to an internal department memo obtained by NR.
The memo also addressed the ongoing cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, stating that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who serves as the aid outfit’s acting director, was personally involved in reviewing agency grants. The Trump administration is working to significantly reduce USAID and eventually fold its remaining programs into the State Department. The USAID review of 6,200 multi-year programs resulted in a decision to cut 5,800 of them — which the memo states is worth $54 billion. The Washington Reporter and Washington Free Beacon first reported on the memo.
“Secretary Rubio has launched a thorough vetting process that has resulted in billions of dollars of savings for American taxpayers,” a senior State Department official told NR.
“His leadership has helped overhaul wasteful spending that has plagued the federal government for way too long. This is in line with the Trump administration’s broader mission of rooting out inefficiencies across agencies and advancing policies that support our national interests.”
President Trump issued an executive order kicking off the review on his first day in office. Rubio subsequently issued a department-wide cable freezing most existing foreign assistance programs, until the completion of a 90-day evaluation process. The review process automatically exempted lifesaving food assistance as well as security funds for Israel and Egypt. It also established a process for the issuance of waivers for other grants and contracts; the department ultimately exempted security assistance to U.S. partners in the Indo-Pacific from the freeze, in addition to billions for other programs that senior officials deemed critical.
The memo explained that State sped up its review in response to a recent federal court ruling that directed State and USAID to lift the stop-work orders. “In response, State and USAID moved abruptly to complete the programmatic evaluation — lifting [stop-work orders] for some programs and terminating others,” according to the memo.
The document also revealed that USAID kept in place certain programs related to food assistance, lifesaving medical treatments for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, and grants in countries including Lebanon, Haiti, Venezuela, and Cuba.
Ultimately, the document states, State and USAID “will undergo a process — in consultation with Congress — to reform the way the United States delivers foreign assistance.” They will conduct that process, per the memo, according to the three guiding criteria for State Department initiatives that Rubio laid out during his confirmation hearing: whether it makes America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.