US Secretary of State taking over as acting head of USAID
Photo: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces that he is performing the duties of the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), CNN reports.
Rubio told reporters that he "delegated that authority to someone, but I stay in touch with him," without providing specific details.
As noted by the media outlet, the US Secretary of State is currently in El Salvador, where he stopped during his trip to Central America.
"Our goal was to go in and align our foreign aid to the national interest. But if you go to mission after mission and embassy after embassy around the world, you will often find that in many cases USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we’re trying to do in our national strategy with that country or with that region. That cannot continue," Rubio stated.
US suspends funding for USAID
On January 21, US President Donald Trump announced the suspension of all foreign aid programs for 90 days to review their alignment with his foreign policy.
A few days later, the US State Department issued an order to "cease operations" for all existing foreign aid and halted the disbursement of new aid.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) branch in Ukraine also suspended its projects and funding.
Additionally, we previously reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump is considering cutting the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and placing it under the control of the State Department.
