Thousands of employees at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will be furloughed starting Friday, February 7, the agency said in a statement on its website.
USAID said that “directly employed staff will be furloughed starting at the end of the week, except for those in key positions, key management personnel, and those working on special programs.”
It noted that the agency would work with the State Department to arrange and pay for return travel for many staff deployed outside the United States within a month.
Many USAID employees received an email yesterday informing them that they had been placed on paid administrative leave. Employees were told to remain available by phone and email during business hours, but they were not allowed to enter the agency’s buildings.
Since returning to the White House last month, US President Donald Trump and his allies have prioritized cutting funding to the government. As part of that move, the Trump administration has focused on USAID.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio became the acting head of USAID, merging one government agency into another, the BBC reported.
Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO who has been appointed to lead a new agency for efficiency and cost-cutting in the government apparatus (the Office of Government Efficiency), said that USAID should be shut down because it is “irreparable”.
This is the latest in a series of cuts made by Trump to programs funded by the US government.
Many argue that the closure of USAID could have a profound impact on humanitarian programs around the world.
USAID provides humanitarian assistance in more than a hundred countries and employs 10,000 people worldwide. Two-thirds of them work abroad.
