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Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared Monday on SiriusXM to clarify what he said was the U.S. stance on foreign aid under the current administration.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s “The David Webb Show,” Rubio addressed concerns on foreign aid. Rubio told guest host Scott Jennings that the United States will maintain its commitment to essential humanitarian efforts but will curtail spending on programs that do not meet strict criteria of effectiveness and necessity.

“We’re not walking away from foreign aid. We are walking away from foreign aid that’s dumb, that’s stupid, that wastes American taxpayer money. We’re just not going to continue to do those,” Rubio said. Addressing concerns about the U.S. role in global health initiatives like USAID’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Rubio said he supports successful programs.

“I’m a supporter of PEPFAR. I have been in Congress. I am now as secretary of State. It’s a program we want to continue. Obviously, we’re going to have questions about it. Look, if PEPFAR is working well, it’s a program that should be getting smaller over time, not bigger, right? Because you’re preventing HIV. You’re preventing the spread of HIV, and so people aren’t testing positive because their viral load gets down. They’re not passing it on to their children,” Rubio said when Jennings asked about programs like PEPFAR and other lifesaving medical initiatives.

Rubio said there is an expectation that such programs should ideally shrink over time.

“So, ideally, it’s a program that, over time, shrinks, not expands, because less and less people are getting HIV or are transmitting it to their children. That was always the goal, an AIDS-free generation, so no child was born with HIV. And – but it’s a program I’ve supported, and we want to continue to do it. Are people going to starve to death? Are we going to have a famine? Is it going to destabilize a country in a way that would be negative to our national interest and open the door for radical jihadists or others to take advantage? We’re going to continue to do those,” Rubio said.

Rubio, though, said there’s a need to redefine what qualifies as humanitarian aid.

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“The problem is that the definition of humanitarian has expanded beyond that – to all kinds of other things that do not make sense. That doesn’t mean they’re bad ideas. Someone should do it. It just shouldn’t be the American taxpayer,” Rubio said. “So that’s the kind of things that we’re going through right now and identifying. And by the way, we issued a waiver that allowed all these lifesaving programs to continue. And, obviously, there’s – any time you have a pause or some hiccups about how to restart the payment programs, but all that’s going to get taken care of here very quickly, and those programs will continue.”

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, chair of the Department of Government Efficiency, have begun the process of dismantling USAID by planning to integrate its functions into the State Department. Musk said that their decision led to the closure of USAID, with its staff transitioning to telecommuting and Rubio stepping in as the acting director.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)

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