Into the wood chipper: For the last 60 years, the U.S. Agency for International Development has doled out humanitarian assistance to the rest of the world. Its budget is roughly $50 billion.
Over the weekend, it all appeared to come to a close: the Department of Government Efficiency head honcho Elon Musk was reportedly ordered by President Donald Trump to shutter it. "U.S.A.I.D. employees were told overnight not to report to work on Monday….But not all employees were able to read the [emailed note], as many had already been locked out of their accounts," per The New York Times. "Hundreds of contractors, who make up the bulk of the staff in field offices, lost access to their official emails and systems over the weekend, according to five people with knowledge of the changes." Musk has apparently already fired half of the agency's global health arm, tweeting out "spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper."
Employees started protesting outside of the agency's headquarters after news of their termination became public. Some Democratic members of Congress joined in. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that he's now the acting administrator of the agency and that some of the existing programs would continue under the State Department, but that the agency itself had to be shuttered because of workers' "rank insubordination."
