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Sen. Jim Riche, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a thorough review of spending from the United States Organization for International Development (USAID) was guaranteed, following Trump administration’s agency overhaul efforts.
USAID was an independent agency that provided support and development support for poor countries, but the agency was overthrown since February, when President Donald Trump established Secretary of State Marco Rubio to oversee the organization amid concerns that USAID did not promote the core interests of the United States. Since then, agents have faced layoffs and have been absorbed by the State Department.
According to Risch, this increase in monitoring on USAID spending is effective.
“We have to look at how much we spend from top to bottom,” Riche said at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
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This increase in scrutiny over USAID spending is effective, according to Sen. Jim Risch of R-Idaho. (Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)
Riche said weeks after the Trump administration, he and others, including Rubio, had evaluated a list of programs that detailed $3 million in funding for “promoting democracy in lower Slovvia.” According to Risch, this description does not provide sufficient information and such items should be reviewed up to billions of dollars in total.
“Lower Slobovia” is a fictional place and is a term used by Americans to describe an underdeveloped foreign country.
“We can do better, not just how and how much money we spend, but how we spend it,” said Rich. “So, if you say, we’re excluded this program, so don’t say, ‘Oh, that means walking away from human rights.’ America leads human rights.
The government’s Department of Efficiency (DOGE) has targeted the USAID to push forward to eliminate wasted spending. The agency fired for many funding options, including allocating $1.5 million to programs seeking “diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbian workplaces and business communities,” and allocated a $70,000 program for Ireland’s “DEI musical.”
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US Congressman Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H. and James Rich of R-Idaho will be attending a confirmation hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 15, 2025, for Marco Rubio to become Secretary of State.
As a result, Rubio announced on March 11 that the State Department completed a six-week review and cancelled more than 80% of its USAID program.
Fox News Digital stopped acting as an independent agency as the State Department first reported in the second half of March that it planned to absorb the rest of the operations and absorb the programs that USAID runs.
According to a State Department memo obtained by Fox News Digital, the move means removing thousands of staff in an attempt to bolster existing “life-saving” foreign aid programs.
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Sen. Jim Riche said the increase in scrutiny assessing USAID funding is justified. (Alex Brandon Pool/Getty Images)
“Foreign aid could be delivered correctly, allowing us to promote borders, protect borders and strengthen partnerships with our key allies,” Rubio said in a March statement to Fox News Digital. “Unfortunately, USAID was lost a long time ago from its original mission. As a result, the profits were too small and the costs were too high.”
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“We are reorienting our foreign aid programs to work directly with what’s best suited to the US and our citizens,” Rubio said. “We are continuing our essential lifesaving programmes and making strategic investments to strengthen our partners and our country.”
Meanwhile, Democrats denounced the restructuring of government agencies and labeled the move as “illegal.”
“The destruction of Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the dismantling of USAID are not only foreign policy that goes against our national security interests, but they are clearly illegal,” a top Democrat for Rep. Gregory Meeks, a House Foreign Affairs Committee member, said in a statement in March. “Congress writes laws that establish the USAID as an independent institution with its own spending, and only Congress can eliminate it.”
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
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