Secretary of State Marco Rubio shot down ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday as he pushed the narrative that President Donald Trumpâs cuts to foreign aid caused many people to die.
Stephanopoulos asserted on âGood Morning Americaâ that the Department of Government Efficiencyâs (DOGE) freeze on foreign aid in February killed people on a global scale due to a freeze in funding to support humanitarian causes. Rubio, who served as the head of the agency until early September, stated that the U.S. is not solely responsible for tragedies and misgivings around the world.
âBut are you standing by that comment, youâre saying no oneâs died? No one has died because of the aid cuts? Are all of those aid organizations lying?â Stephanopoulos asked.
âThatâs ridiculous,â Rubio replied. âWell first of all, then they died because England didnât give enough money, or Canada didnât give more or China did. Letâs blame the other countries that didnât give any foreign aid. What about China? I mean, Chinaâs the second largest economy in the world, they donât give money ⌠so did people die because China didnât give more money?â
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Stephanopoulos said that Rubio was no longer disputing that cuts to foreign aid led people to die. The secretary of state said some aid never reached certain places because wars and conflicts prevented its people from obtaining that aid.
âI think anybody who tells you that somehow itâs the United States, that somehow if we cut a dollar, weâre responsible for some horrific thing thatâs going on in the world. Itâs just not true,â Rubio said. âBeyond that, I would say that some of these places that they cite, the reason why the aid didnât get to there, no, excuse me, George, one of the reasons why some of these places didnât get the aid is not because we cut the aid, itâs because thereâs a war going on and the aid never got to the people.â
Rubio said that the U.S. will continue to provide more foreign aid than ever before, but the administration will not allow billions of taxpayer dollars to be spent on âcorruptâ and ineffective programs.
âNo one has died because the United States has cut aid, no,â Rubio continued. âPeople have died because gangs steal the aid, people have died because of the distributors of aid have not done well. People have died because other countries havenât stepped up. But the United States has saved more lives and continues to save more lives than any other country in the world and weâre gonna continue to do it, but weâre gonna do it the right way and in a responsible way. Weâre not gonna continue to pour billions of dollars out the door of American taxpayer funds for programs that donât work, and in some cases that were flat-out corrupt.â
DOGE shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in February over its billions of spending on left-wing causes across the world. In 2023, USAID sent over $17 billion to Ukraine, along with 65 million condoms, 9.8 million injectable birth control products and 334,000 IUDs abroad in fiscal year 2022 to facilitate family planning.
The agency also handed a $2 million grant to Guatemala to help provide sex changes for trans-identifying individuals.
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