Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that after a six-week review, the Trump administration will be canceling 83% of programs at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio wrote on X.
He said the remaining programs would be under the control of the State Department. “In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” Rubio said.
Last month, Reuters reported that only 293 USAID employees out of the 10,000 employed by the agency were expected to keep their jobs.
The secretary thanked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for its involvement in the review. ” It’s unclear at this point what kind of programs will remain.
The pause on foreign aid and overhaul of USAID has highlighted the agency’s role in destabilizing activities across the world, which includes advancing regime change efforts by funding opposition groups and media outlets in other countries.
Who is going to by the 100 millions of dollars of grain that the Midwest farmers sell to USAID?
The US Department of Agriculture started distributing an additional $30 billion in welfare to farmers just last week, and is calling it the first “tranche” of expanded welfare checks.
Not that there are many “farmers” these days in the traditional sense of the guy in overalls with a pitchfork. My grandparents were the last generation of that. These days, almost all farming is just corporate business like any other.
That is truly sad. I remember a year ago or more when small dairy farmers had to sell cows or go bankrupt and they were distraught for having to let go of cows they considered family.
And I bet based on the love and care, the milk, cheese, etc was much better.
I live in a rural area where the vast majority of the farmers are the ones with "overalls and pitchforks" as Thomas describes real farmers. And their products are much better in quality than the corporate shit that is sold side by side with their products. And yes, they do treat their animals like family. Or about 100 times better than the Israeli's treat the Palestinians.
You are lucky. And I hope your farmers keep their businesses and animals.
I grew up in a rural area with grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends in the “overall and pitchfork” mode. Lived on a non-commercial farm (a few head of cattle, a few pigs, some chickens, large garden — we didn’t have to do much grocery shopping) for the best part of my childhood. My first profit venture was buying a calf using a savings bond my grandma bought me when I was born and raising it from nipple bucket to sale barn weight when I was about eight years old. And I still buy direct from real farm when I can.
These days, even most “family farms” are just de facto subsidiaries of larger corporate interests. They plant or raise what they’re told to plant or raise, in the way they’re told to plant or raise it by one large buyer, which tends toward high-density monoculture, etc. All told, about 1.3% of Americans now work on “farms,” and most of those don’t resemble, say, my grandpa.
He started his adult life working as a share cropper for a former slave. In early 20th century America, a “white” guy working for a “black” guy meant poor indeed.
When my mom (who was born in the log cabin that that former slave had built and later rented to her dad when he moved into a nicer house) was four, in the middle of the Great Depression, he managed to buy his own farm. The well was no good, so my mom and her sisters carried water a quarter mile from the nearest creek for four years until they could afford to have a new one dug. She was a teenager by the time the family got a truck instead of going to town on foot or by mule-drawn wagon. When I was a kid, my grandpa had about 400 acres in corn and soybeans, ran some cattle and kept hogs and chickens. He still milked by hand every morning. And when I was about 10, all the adult men in the family showed up to tear off part of the farmhouse roof and build grandma and grandpa an indoor bathroom.
When I was a teenager, I helped a high school friend milk at his dad’s dairy farm. Fortunately, they had the machines that clamped onto the cows’ udders. Even then, the milk was already sold through a large regional dairy co-op instead of direct to a local dairy or store or to consumers.
I really loved farm life. I really like farmers. But the advantage of that corporate farm stuff is that food is so much cheaper now that “real” farmers are basically welfare clients whose preferred rural lifestyle gets subsidized both with direct checks and with price controls and production floors/ceilings. “Real” farming is dead, at least until the next civilizational collapse.
What happened to the farm? Did your family sell it?
My grandparents sold their farm when they retired. They only lived a few years after moving to town. I think the massive lifestyle change had something to do with that.
My parents bought the farm when I was six or seven, and sold it when I was 10 or 11. My dad had been in management at a factory, but his doctor told him he needed less stress, so they bought the farm a couple of hundred miles away, back in their ancestral area, and he took a minimum wage job. Later, he got a good union job and they decided to move into town. I hated that. I loved the farm. But we basically went from “if we don’t keep a full acre of garden plus more acres of pasturage, etc. for cattle, pigs, and chickens, we won’t be eating very well” to “we can afford groceries now, and Dad would rather not drive 15 miles each way to work.”
Heartbreaking.
He said the remaining programs would be under the control of the State Department.He said the remaining programs would be under the control of the State Department. “In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” Rubio said.Rubio said.
I can only imagine what that 18% might entail. And I can only imagine that it isn't something good.
I suspect it is the department of bribery and assassinations.
It would be the secret money going to try regime changes in Iran, Venezuela and north Korea… and Israel secret aid…!
I do not think enough people realize the corruption being done through this agency.
Feb 3, 2025 Hang on! USAID Funneled MILLIONS to the Clinton Foundation?!?!
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which is a front for the CIA has been effectively shut down following an announcement by Elon Musk that President Donald Trump agreed to close the agency.
https://youtu.be/rmAB_z316WM?si=LDNukAvRQT2KBkrb
It’s that 17 percent that you should worry about.
I can't believe I said 18%.
You just rounded up. No big deal. No big sin.