EXCLUSIVE: Marco Rubio brings the hammer to the State Department, saving as much as $60 billion to taxpayers

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is drastically revamping American foreign assistance, rolling out a review of almost 20,000 government grants and awards that “resulted in nearly $60 billion in savings for the taxpayers,” the State Department claimed in a memo exclusively obtained by the Washington Reporter.

Rubio’s efforts come as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Fever is scrutinizing billions of dollars of contracts — and his efforts show that the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) won’t be spared, either. Rubio’s review of the State Department was “led by career [foreign service officers] and [was] reviewed by senior political leadership,” including Rubio himself, per the memo.

Rubio’s findings come amidst reports that DOGE is using an advanced algorithm to evaluate foreign aid grants and agreements, as the sheer number of grants could not be reasonably reviewed by a small crew of people.

According to the State Department, “over 4,100 grants worth nearly $4.4 billion were identified for elimination — a 28 percent reduction in total grant value over the course of the 15-day review.” The cuts to USAID were even starker.

“USAID evaluated 6,200 multi-year awards with $58.2 billion in value remaining,” the State Department wrote. “At the conclusion of a process led by USAID [politically appointed] leadership, including tranches personally reviewed by the Secretary, nearly 5,800 awards with $54 billion in value remaining were identified for elimination — a 92 percent reduction.”

During the review of State and USAID spending, Rubio prioritized three questions: does the spending make America safer? Does the spending make America stronger? And does the spending make America more prosperous?

Following these cuts, Rubio will work with Congress to “reform the way the United States delivers foreign assistance.” Rubio’s memo emphasized that both State and USAID have “lift[ed] [stop work orders] for some programs and terminat[ed] others,” and that “USAID retained critical awards, including: food assistance; life-saving medical treatments for HIV, [tuberculosis], and malaria,” and critical support for countries like Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Lebanon.

Rubio is likely to find eager partners on both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by his former colleague Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho), as well as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, helmed by his fellow Florida Republican, Rep. Brian Mast.

Mast’s committee placed USAID directly in its crosshairs in a fiery recent hearing. USAID also received scrutiny from the Oversight Committee’s DOGE Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.). Greene’s subcommittee hosted a hearing about waste in USAID that featured the Daily Signal’s Tyler O’Neil and a mid-level former Trump appointee from Trump’s first term last week.