Trump on USAID: “It has been run by a bunch of RADICAL LUNATICS and we’re getting them out … and then we’ll make a decision”

Sec Rubio in El Salvador: “I’m the acting director of USAID. I’ve delegated that authority to someone…”

QUESTION: Can you tell us about USAID, what’s happening at USAID and how that affects (inaudible)?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, I mean, my frustration with USAID goes back to my time in Congress. It’s a completely unresponsive agency. It’s supposed to respond to policy directives at the State Department and it refuses to do so. So the functions of USAID – there are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy.

I said very clearly when we – during my confirmation hearing that every dollar we spend and every program we fund, that will be aligned with the national interests of the United States. And USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that they’re somehow a global charity separate from the national interest. These are taxpayer dollars.

And so I’m very troubled by these reports that they have been unwilling to cooperate with people who are asking simple questions about what does this program do, who gets the money, who are our contractors, who’s funded. And that sort of level of insubordination makes it impossible to conduct the sort of mature and serious review that I think foreign aid writ large should have. We’re spending taxpayer money here. These are not donor dollars. These are taxpayer dollars, and we owe the American people the – the assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest. And so far, a lot of the people that work at USAID have just simply refused to cooperate.

QUESTION: Are you currently in charge of USAID? Are you acting —

SECRETARY RUBIO: I’m the acting director of USAID. I’ve delegated that authority to someone, but I stay in touch with him. And again, 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.

USAID is not an independent nongovernmental entity. It is an entity that spends taxpayer dollars and it needs to spend it, as the statute says, in alignment with the policy directives that they get from the Secretary of State, the National Security Council, and the President. And it’s been 20 or 30 years where people have tried to reform it, and it refuses to reform, it refuses to cooperate. When we were in Congress we couldn’t even get answers to basic questions about programs. That will not continue. That’s not going to continue.

QUESTION: Elon Musk just called it a terrorist organization. Do you believe that?

SECRETARY RUBIO: I’ve articulated to you my challenges with it, and they go back to my time in Congress. We would ask them questions – who does this program fund, who gets the money – we won’t tell you, don’t need to tell you, we’re apolitical. Look, American foreign policy isn’t apolitical. American foreign policy is to – is to further the interests of the United States. If someone wants to spend apolitical dollars, they should spend private dollars. Go start a charity and you can fund anyone you want. But if you’re going to spend taxpayer money, then you need to spend it in furtherance of the national interests of the United States. That’s exactly what I said at my confirmation hearing. And this is not my frustration. This frustration has existed now for almost a quarter century and two – multiple administrations that have gone through this challenge. It’s going to stop and it’s going to end.

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Trump on USAID: RADICAL LUNATICS, getting them out; Rubio: foreign aid policy isn’t apolitical