USAID Workers Put on Leave, Locked Out as Agency Targeted for Closure

The future of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is in question, as President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, the Head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), move to shut down the agency. 

Both President Trump and Musk have targeted USAID, with Musk calling it a “criminal organization” that needs to “die.”

This week 606 USAID employees were placed on leave and 791 personal service contracts were terminated. The agency’s Washington, DC, headquarters was also closed to employees. Other employees were locked out of the agency’s computer systems, and the agency’s website vanished Saturday. This comes after the administration put a 90-day freeze on most foreign assistance. 

State Department Takes Charge

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he’s now acting administrator of the supposedly independent agency, unveiling plans to restructure and potentially abolish the agency, saying many programs are duplicates of State Department work. There is increasing chatter among Republicans on Capitol Hill that the agency could be folded into the State Department.  

“In consultation with Congress, USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus, and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law,” said Secretary Rubio. 

Meanwhile President Trump told reporters that USAID should have been shut “a long time ago” and that he believes he has the authority to shut it down. 

Democrats Cry Foul

Congressional Democrats rallied outside the agency headquarters in Washington after being blocked from entering. Uniformed officers blocked the lobby of the USAID’s headquarters using yellow tape with the words “do not cross.”

“This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let’s call it what it is. The people get to decide how we defend the United States of America. The people get to decide how their taxpayer money is spent. Elon Musk does not get to decide,” said Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). 

“It’s not only a gift to our adversaries, but trying to shut down the Agency for International Development by executive order is plain illegal,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). 

Democrats said court challenges already were in the works and pledged to try to block approval of Trump’s State Department nominations until the shutdown is reversed.  

Meanwhile, Rep. Brian Mast, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he is working with Secretary Rubio and is supportive of the changes. Over the weekend, Mast said he is "absolutely be for—if that's the path we go down— removing USAID as a separate department and having it fall under one of the other parts of United States Department of State because of its failure."

USAID provides food aid, emergency relief and health programs in more than 100 countries. Republicans have long accused it of being out of step with U.S. interests with the White House saying the agency “funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight.”

Foreign aid represents approximately one percent of the federal budget.