Rubio Despairs Just 12 Cents of Every Dollar from USAID Reached the Needy

Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck out at what he calls the U.S. “foreign aid industrial complex” during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, despairing at the inability of USAID to deliver funds where they are needed most.

Rubio directly targeted the organization, adding the time has come for root-and-branch change.

“At USAID, 12 cents of every dollar was reaching the recipient. That means that in order for us to get aid to somebody, we had to spend all this other money supporting this foreign aid industrial complex,” Rubio said.

“We’re going to find more efficient ways to deliver aid to people directly. It’s going to be directed by our regional bureaus. It’s going to sponsor programs that make a difference. And it’s going to be part of a holistic approach to our foreign policy.”

Rubio made clear the funds would not stop but added the proviso the bureaucratic mechanisms that deliver them will have to change.

“We still will provide more foreign aid, more humanitarian support, than the next 10 countries combined… and far more than China,” he said, disputing the argument the U.S. is handing over soft power to China by cutting foreign aid. “China doesn’t do humanitarian aid. China does predatory lending.”

“Many of the reforms we’ve made were driven by people inside the building—many of whom have worked there for 20 or 30 years,” he said. “The State Department had to change. I’m telling you—it was no longer at the center of American foreign policy. It had often been replaced by the National Security Council or by some other agency of government.”

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