Rubio unloads on ‘alarmists,’ touts State Dept disaster response after USAID closure

FIRST ON FOX: Those worried about shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were wrong, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who touted the agency’s record in delivering support in the wake of Hurricane Melissa that ravaged the Caribbean in October. 

Although USAID historically functioned as an independent agency to deliver aid to impoverished countries and development assistance, the State Department announced in March that it would absorb remaining operations and functions in an effort to streamline operations to deliver foreign assistance amid concerns that USAID did not advance U.S. core interests. The move resulted in cuts for thousands of USAID employees. 

Critics including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said that upending the agency would "lead to millions of preventable deaths," while a group of House Democrats wrote a letter to President Donald Trump in February as USAID cuts got underway that changes would lead to increased maternal and child mortality. 

But Rubio now claims those skeptics’ fears were unfounded. 

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"Alarmists in politics and the media forecasted that the closure of USAID would result in catastrophe. Now, nearly a year later, they’ve been proven wrong," Rubio said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The State Department has realigned foreign assistance with the interests of the American people, streamlined disaster response capabilities, and leveraged the ingenuity of American companies to save lives." 

Specifically, Rubio pointed to the assistance the State Department provided in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane and was the strongest to strike Kingston since the island started tracking its storms 174 years ago.

The State Department deployed a regional disaster assistance response team (DART) and activated U.S.-based urban search and rescue (USAR) teams to support response efforts in the region as part of recovery efforts. 

Likewise, the State Department allocated roughly $1 million to go toward administering food and other resources to those in need, using predesignated supplies housed in 12 different warehouses across the region. Ultimately, the State Department coordinated with the United Nations World Food Program to distribute 5,000 family food packs to families in Jamaica. 

"This new era of foreign assistance eliminates extreme ideological projects that previous administrations forced the American people to subsidize, cuts out the wasteful NGO industrial complex, and puts the American people first," Rubio said. 

Sanders office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted USAID in its push to eliminate wasteful spending during a review earlier in 2025. The agency attracted scrutiny for a series of funding choices, including allocating $1.5 million for a program that sought to "advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities" and a $70,000 program for a "DEI musical" in Ireland.

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USAID was officially closed down in July — a move that attracted criticism from Democrats and former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 

"Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy," Obama said in a video that was shown to departing USAID employees, according to The Associated Press. "Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world."

Obama labeled the decision to upend USAID "a colossal mistake," and said, "sooner or later, leaders on both sides of the aisle will realize how much you are needed."

Meanwhile, the State Department is undergoing its own transformation. In addition to absorbing USAID, the State Department has undergone a massive overhaul as part of the largest restructuring for the agency since the Cold War. 

Additionally, it rolled out an America First Global Health Strategy in September to deliver health aid worldwide by working directly with recipient country’s governments instead of through non-governmental organizations and other aid programs.

In December, Kenya became the first country to sign a five-year, $2.5 billion Health Cooperation Framework agreement with the U.S. in alignment with this new strategy, which also aims for recipient countries to eventually bear more responsibility for their own health expenditures. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.