The State Department axed over $200 million in foreign grants funded by taxpayer dollars, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Free Beacon.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio slashed around $214 million from 139 grants made by the agency, which focused on foreign assistance programs, including a “media sustainability” program for Moldova costing $14.6 million, a $5.2 million “diversity in media” grant for the United Kingdom and a $500,000 grant to Armenia for “environmental resilience” among many others, according to the Free Beacon. The cuts were made with the aid of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which began helping the agency in February with supplemental reviews of grants.
“The American taxpayers should not be funding misguided programs like “Building the Migrant Domestic Worker-Led Movement” in Lebanon or “Get the Trolls Out!” in the United Kingdom,” Rubio said on X Tuesday. “We are cleaning up the mess the previous administration left and rebuilding an agency that’s focused on putting America First.”