- Date:
- 1961 - present
- Related People:
- Samantha Power
U.S. Agency for International Development
What was the main purpose of USAID when it was established?
Who established USAID and when?
What projects did USAID fund?
What led to the shuttering of USAID in 2025?
News •
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), former lead U.S. government agency working in more than 100 countries to promote global economic prosperity, advance food security, strengthen democracy, protect human rights, improve public health, and provide humanitarian assistance. The agency was established by U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy by executive order in 1961. Believing foreign aid to be misaligned with American interests and values, on January 20, 2025, U.S. Pres. Donald Trump issued his own executive order, calling for the pause and evaluation of all foreign aid. In the following weeks, downsizing activities by both the Department of State and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) included mass program suspensions, the sidelining of USAID staff, and attempts to drastically scale back the agency’s operations. Then on March 28, 2025, the Department of State sent a letter to Congress, notifying them of the department’s intention to shutter USAID by “realigning certain USAID functions to the Department by July 1, 2025, and discontinuing the remaining USAID functions that do not align with Administration priorities.” On the agency’s last day, former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama addressed departing staffers via separate prerecorded video messages. President Bush, who launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during his first term, said, “On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your hard work, and God bless you.” President Obama echoed his sentiment, stating, “To many people around the world, USAID is the United States.” The Office of Foreign Assistance, established in 2006 to coordinate foreign assistance activities within the State Department, will oversee any remaining USAID programs.
As of July 1, 2025, legal challenges to the Trump administration’s actions are ongoing.
Founding
On September 4, 1961, President Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, in which the U.S. Congress declared:
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A principal objective of the foreign policy of the United States is the encouragement and sustained support of the people of developing countries in their efforts to acquire the knowledge and resources essential to development and to build the economic, political, and social institutions which will improve the quality of their lives.
Nearly two months later, on November 3, 1961, USAID was established as an entity of the State Department by Kennedy in Executive Order 10973. With its creation, the agency brought together multiple foreign-assistance organizations—including the corporate Development Loan Fund and the International Cooperation Administration—into a single entity.
In signing the Foreign Assistance Act, Kennedy noted that the legislation’s purpose was not only the commitment of development funds to assist in economic and social progress but also to support “world-wide collective security arrangements essential to free world defense.”
In 1961 there was bipartisan consensus on the value of “soft power” as a tool for securing the United States’ safety. In comparison to military intervention—“hard power”—soft power focuses on influence and the creation of relationships. Kennedy and the U.S. Congress saw foreign aid funding as a matter of national security during an era of Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. In a speech to USAID overseas mission directors on June 8, 1962, Kennedy clearly articulated the importance of soft power:
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The people who are opposed to aid should realize that this is a very powerful source of strength for us. It permits us to exert influence for the maintenance of freedom. If we did not, were not so heavily involved, our voice would not speak with such vigor. And as we do not want to send American troops to a great many areas where freedom may be under attack, we send you. And you, working with the people in those countries, to try to work with them in developing the economic thrust of their country, so that they can make a determination that they can solve their problems, without resorting to totalitarian control and becoming part of the Bloc.
In 1998 Congress passed the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act, which created USAID as an “independent establishment” outside the Department of State. USAID’s programs are funded by congressional approval.
Activities
USAID supported foreign aid projects that aimed to further democratic governance, sustainability, and human rights. The agency worked in such areas as education and economic prosperity and was a leader in public health initiatives. USAID contributed to the eradication of smallpox and the wild poliovirus in Africa, helped control the HIV/AIDS epidemic through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and combated infectious diseases through the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. USAID officials and aid workers traditionally viewed global health work as critical to improving global economic opportunity and security. The agency conducted its activities in partnership with nongovernmental organizations, researchers and scientists, universities, corporations, faith-based organizations, and other humanitarian groups. USAID also provided military aid and humanitarian assistance in war zones, including during the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars.
USAID was not without its critics. A U.S. Government Accountability Office review published in 2024 warned of areas of potential fraud and corruption in such conflict zones as Nigeria, Somalia, and Ukraine. Others questioned the economic value of foreign aid in general. (USAID’s budget in the 2023 fiscal year was $40 billion, equaling less than 1 percent of the overall federal budget.) In contrast, supporters pointed to the ongoing value of foreign aid to counter the influence of U.S. antagonists, notably Russia and China, the latter of which has its own massive global investment project, the Belt and Road Initiative.
Second term of Pres. Donald Trump
On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second administration, President Trump issued Executive Order 14169—Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid—which claimed that the country’s current foreign aid apparatus was “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.” The order began a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign aid activities and funding to allow for an assessment of “programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.” Four days later, the U.S. State Department suspended all existing foreign aid programs, with limited exceptions for emergency food assistance and military assistance to Egypt and Israel. On January 28 Secretary of State Marco Rubio expanded the temporary exemptions to include “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance.” Then, on February 3 Rubio named himself acting administrator of USAID in advance of a program-by-program review to determine which activities conformed with Trump’s executive order. Concurrently, USAID staff received orders not to report to the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, and Elon Musk, DOGE’s chief administrator, claimed on X (formerly Twitter), without evidence, that “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”
On February 6 workers from the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees sued the Trump administration, claiming that its plan to dismantle USAID without congressional approval was a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The following day U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a 2019 Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order halting the administration’s plans to reduce USAID’s global workforce from more than 10,000 to fewer than 300. The injunction stopped the recall of foreign service officials from abroad and prevented the administration from placing about 2,000 employees on leave while it also reinstated 500 others who were previously dismissed. On February 21 Nichols ruled that the administration could continue with its plans, and on February 23 notices were sent to USAID workers, placing all those not “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and/or specially designated programs” on administrative leave.
On February 26, the administration announced that following an assessment of existing agreements, it would be canceling nearly 10,000 USAID contact and grants, a cut that equaled about 90 percent of all of the agency’s work. USAID federal workers and contractors affected by program eliminations were given a 15-minute window on February 27 and 28 to clear out their offices.
On February 13 U.S. District Judge Amir Ali issued a ruling in a separate case, Global Health Council v. Trump, that granted the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order that blocked enforcement of Trump’s executive order and reinstated funding for foreign aid contracts while litigation proceeds. Ali set a midnight February 26 deadline for the administration to release the reinstated funds. The Trump administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that Ali’s ruling interfered with the president’s powers “to make appropriate judgments about foreign aid.” Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative stay on February 26, preserving the status quo to allow the justices more time to review the matter. On March 5 the Supreme Court voted 5–4 to uphold Judge Ali’s order, requiring the Trump administration to unfreeze nearly two billion dollars in aid for work that had already been completed. The decision also instructed Judge Ali to “clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order” and to consider the feasibility of the government’s ability to meet his payment deadlines.
While legal challenges continued, on March 28, 2025, the Department of State formally notified Congress that it was effectively shuttering USAID by “realigning certain USAID functions to the Department by July 1, 2025, and discontinuing the remaining USAID functions that do not align with Administration priorities.” The Office of Foreign Assistance, established in 2006 to coordinate foreign assistance activities within the State Department, oversees any remaining USAID programs.