U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday stated that the United States has continued providing foreign aid, despite the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, having its programs frozen pending a review.
“I’m not against foreign aid. I’ve supported foreign aid. We’re going to do foreign aid. No one here is saying we’re going to have zero, and some [programs] have already [survived],” Rubio said in an interview with Catherine Herridge for X.
Rubio said he had no regrets regarding USAID and argued that some programs “shouldn’t have ever existed.”
USAID-funded programs have come under scrutiny amid efforts by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to overhaul the country’s foreign aid agency.
U.S. billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, referred to the agency as a “criminal organization” that “needs to die.”
USAID employees worldwide have reportedly been placed on administrative leave.
The agency’s website, including past financial reports, has been taken down.
