Marco Rubio Takes Over Embattled USAID, Vows Big Changes to 'Completely Unresponsive Agency'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that he has assumed the role of acting director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“My frustration with USAID goes back to my time in Congress. It’s a completely unresponsive agency, it’s supposed to respond to policy directives of the state department and it refuses to do so,” he stated.

Originally established in 1961 during the Kennedy administration, USAID was designed to distribute global humanitarian aid and is expected to operate under policy guidance from the secretary of state.

“There are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy,” Rubio emphasized.

“Every dollar we spend will be aligned with the national interest of the United States. USAID has a history of ignoring that and deciding that they’re a global charity, separate from the national interest,” he added.

“These are not donor dollars, these are taxpayer dollars, and we owe the American people the assurance that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest,” Rubio asserted.

Reflecting on past attempts at reform, the former Florida senator pointed out that lawmakers have spent the last two to three decades trying to change USAID, yet the agency has been uncooperative and lacks transparency with Congress.

Rubio noted that USAID consistently claims to be apolitical, but he countered that American foreign policy itself is not apolitical and that his goal is to advance U.S. interests.

“If someone wants to spend apolitical dollars, they should spend private dollars. Go start a charity and you can fund anyone you want,” the secretary argued.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted various projects that USAID funds have supported in recent years. These include $1.5 million aimed at promoting DEI in Serbian workplaces, $70,000 for a DEI-themed musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, and $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.

“I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap!” Leavitt remarked.

Over the weekend, officials from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sought access to USAID files, including classified materials, in an effort to assess the agency's expenditures, as reported by Reuters.

“Katie Miller, a DOGE spokesperson, said on social media platform X that no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances,” the outlet noted.

On Sunday, Musk shared on X, “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” and referred to the agency as a “criminal organization” that should be dismantled.

Additionally, he reposted a video of Trump commenting on USAID: “I love the concept, but they turned out to be radical left lunatics. The concept of it is good but it’s all about the people.”