• USAID will cut nearly all staff, reducing its workforce from over 10,000 employees to 290.
• Trump and Musk have criticized USAID for being wasteful and supporting liberal causes.
• USAID spent $32.5 billion in 2024, focusing on health and humanitarian aid.

Federal workers are suing to stop the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which faces cuts to nearly all of its over 10,000 staff by Friday.

The cuts would reduce employment numbers to 294, Randy Chester, vice president of the American Foreign Service Association at USAID, said in a press conference on Thursday announcing a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and members of his administration that seeks injunctive relief to halt the cuts.

"The rest of the service will be furloughed and put on administrative leave, pending, but we assume there will be a reduction," he said.

One USAID employee who asked to remain anonymous told Business Insider that "the whole region of sub-Saharan Africa will be left with 12 staff members — or less."

The Trump administration's move to gut the foreign aid agency will also halt the contracts administered abroad by USAID.

On Tuesday evening, USAID announced it would put nearly all its staff on administrative leave beginning on Friday at 11:59 p.m., with exceptions to people with "exceptional circumstances," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. USAID said it would arrange return travel with the State Department within 30 days.

"We're not trying to be disruptive to people's personal lives, we're not being punitive here, but this is the only way we've been able to get cooperation from USAID," Rubio, USAID's acting director, said Thursday from the Dominican Republic.

This comes after Donald Trump and Elon Musk both attacked the agency for being wasteful and backing liberal causes, with Musk calling it a "criminal organization" on X.

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents about 800,000 federal workers, filed a lawsuit with the American Foreign Service Association on Thursday, naming President Donald Trump, Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, the State Department, USAID,  and the Treasury Department as defendants.

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs called the move by the Trump administration a constitutional and moral crisis.

The White House did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

USAID oversees programs in 65 countries focusing on medical assistance, food and nutrition, HIV treatment, and aid to people in conflict zones. Data reveals that USAID spent nearly $32.5 billion in aid in fiscal year 2024, with the most amount of aid sent to Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia. Half of the funding went to either humanitarian or health and population purposes, while another $7 billion was spent on governance.

Foreign spending accounts for less than 1% of the US federal budget, though the US is the world's largest humanitarian aid provider.

Many leading Democrats and legal analysts have argued that shuttering USAID is illegal, as an independent agency can only be closed by an act of Congress.

Five days into Trump's term, the US froze billions in humanitarian aid intended for health, education, and anti-corruption purposes, among other purposes.

Trump has recently suggested his administration may try to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Justice.

• The USAID has become one of Elon Musk's top targets in his bid to cut government spending.
• Musk's moves to dismantle federal agencies like USAID are totally illegal, constitutional law experts say.
• Congressional authority is needed to shut down a federal agency, the experts said.

Elon Musk's efforts to scrap federal government agencies like the US Agency for International Development are indisputably illegal, constitutional law experts say.

Without congressional action, Musk — the billionaire tech titan who is now serving in the Trump administration — nor President Donald Trump, has the legal authority to do so, the experts told Business Insider. And so far, the Republican-controlled Congress has taken no public action to push back against the move.

The humanitarian aid agency known as USAID announced on Tuesday it was set to place nearly all of its direct-hire workforce around the globe on administrative leave at the end of the week, just a day after Musk said in an X post that he "spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper."

"Elon Musk's claim that he has President Trump's go-ahead to shut down USAID is flatly illegal and unconstitutional," said Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor.

"In our system of government, only Congress wields the power of the purse and the power to create or destroy entire agencies to disburse the money the government collects in taxes or borrows from bondholders," said Tribe.

Not even the president has the unilateral authority to take an ax to federal agencies the way Musk says he is, the legal scholar said.

"The president cannot do this directly and so he can't delegate any authority to do it to Musk or anyone else," Cornell Law School professor Michael Dorf said.

As the head of the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, Musk, with the backing of Trump, has made it his newfound mission to reduce spending by the federal government — and USAID has become one of Musk's top targets.

President John F. Kennedy initially created USAID through an executive order in 1961, and Congress later formally established it as an independent agency through the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998.

"Congress could cancel it, but the president can't unilaterally shutter it," Dorf said of USAID, adding, "This is blatantly unlawful and a violation of Trump's oath to take care that the laws are faithfully executed."

Earlier this week, the US State Department announced that Trump has appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the acting administrator of USAID.

The State Department said in a statement that Rubio "notified Congress that a review of USAID's foreign assistance activities is underway with an eye towards potential reorganization."

Rubio wrote in a letter to Congress: "The Department of State and other pertinent entities will be consulting with Congress and the appropriate committees to reorganize and absorb certain bureaus, offices, and missions of USAID."

As for whether the Trump administration can legally reorganize USAID, Roderick Hills, an NYU School of Law professor who researches administrative and constitutional law, told BI that is also against the law.

"Certain statutes have, from time to time, given presidents narrow and time-limited re-organization powers, but none of them give President Trump any power to reorganize the USAID," Hills said. "In fact, the statutory background to USAID makes it perfectly clear that President Trump's actions here violate federal law."

USAID was designed to operate independently

Congress designed USAID to operate independently of the State Department, Tribe told BI. "There is no legal loophole they can invoke to make their actions lawful," he said.

The legal expert said that apparent inaction by the GOP-led Congress on the matter suggests that Republicans in control of Congress are "afraid" of being confronted with Musk's "limitless riches."

On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Musk's role as head of DOGE and his efforts to cut government spending, arguing that the executive branch is acting "within the scope of their authority."

Johnson said Republicans would "vigorously defend" Congress' role in government. "But what's happening right now is a gross overreaction in the media to what is happening," Johnson said.

"The executive branch of government in our system has the right to evaluate how executive branch agencies are operating," he said. "It's not a power grab."

A slew of Democratic lawmakers, on the other hand, have sounded the alarm.

"USAID was created by federal law and is funded by Congress. Donald Trump and Elon Musk can't just wish it away with a stroke of a pen — they need to pass a law," Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii said.

James Gardner, a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law, told BI that Congress has given USAID many functions by statute, "and it is not up to anyone but Congress to decide that it should not perform the functions Congress has instructed it to perform."

"The Constitution designates the president as the chief enforcer of the law, not the maker of laws," Gardner said.

Though experts say the effort to disband USAID is illegal, it does not mean it can't happen.

Trump told reporters on Monday that shutting down USAID "should have been done a long time ago" and said he did not think the move would need approval by Congress.

A White House official insisted in a statement to BI on Wednesday that federal law was being adhered to.

"DOGE is fulfilling President Trump's commitment to making government more accountable, efficient, and, most importantly, restoring proper stewardship of the American taxpayer's hard-earned dollars," the official said. "Those leading this mission with Elon Musk are doing so in full compliance with federal law, appropriate security clearances, and as employees of the relevant agencies, not as outside advisors or entities."

While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump clarified Musk's power, saying the Tesla and SpaceX CEO can't make any moves without the green light from his administration.

"Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval," the president said. "And we'll give him the approval where appropriate. Where not appropriate, we won't."

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. The State Department declined to comment and instead referred BI to recent statements by Rubio and the White House.

• USAID distributed nearly $32.5 billion in aid in 2024, mainly to Africa and the Middle East.
• Many Republicans argue USAID is wasteful, while some Democrats say shuttering the agency is unconstitutional.
• Proposed USAID cuts may reduce aid to Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia.

Proposed cuts to the US Agency for International Development could reduce assistance to Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia.

Data for fiscal year 2024 shows that USAID distributed nearly $32.5 billion in aid that year, much of it to Africa and the Middle East.

On Tuesday evening, USAID staff received an email saying that starting Friday, "all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership, and specially designated programs." The email added that essential staff would be notified on Thursday afternoon and that the agency would begin moving international staff back to the US within 30 days.

The US spends more on humanitarian aid than other countries by wide margins, though foreign aid spending is under 1% of the federal budget. The US provides some amount of aid to most countries, including nearly every country in Africa and Asia. Many polls have found a majority of Americans believe the US is spending too much on foreign aid, including for Ukraine.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2024, the US donated over $5.4 billion in aid to Ukraine through USAID, most of which was through macroeconomic support to assist in its war with Russia.

The agency gave over $1.23 billion to Jordan last year, mostly through a cash transfer to the government in exchange for the country cooperating with US interests, such as providing intelligence support and housing Syrian refugees.

USAID also gave slightly over $1.2 billion to Ethiopia and nearly that amount to Congo amid continued conflict, climate shocks, and food shortages.

Other countries that received hundreds of millions of dollars from the agency included South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, and Yemen.

Of the $32.5 billion in spending, about one-quarter went to humanitarian purposes, while another quarter went to health and population. The agency allocated about $7 billion to governance and another $3.6 billion to administrative costs.

It devoted over $2.3 billion to fighting AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria globally, about $290 million to making vaccines and immunization more widespread, and nearly $188 million to international development and capital investment.

USAID, founded in 1961 during the Cold War, had three top partners in 2024: the World Bank Group, which received $4 billion; the World Food Program, which received $3.4 billion; and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which received $2.3 billion.

About one-quarter of USAID funding came from the Economic Support Fund, while $7.4 billion came from the State Department and global health programs.

Democrats and Republicans have been split on USAID's standing. While many Democrats say cutting USAID spending could have widespread negative impacts on millions of people in war-torn or developing countries — and could cost Americans thousands of jobs — Republicans argue USAID spending is often wasteful and not in the US's best interests.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk have attacked USAID and other foreign aid programs over the past few weeks. Musk called USAID a "criminal organization" in a post on X, while Trump told reporters on Sunday that USAID was "run by a bunch of radical lunatics."

Some legal analysts and Democratic politicians have argued that only an act of Congress can shut down an independent agency like USAID. Though Trump and Musk have said that there's fraud in USAID, some experts have pushed back on these claims.

"We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk, and that's going to become real clear," Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said at a press conference Monday outside the USAID headquarters. "This illegal, unconstitutional interference with congressional power is threatening lives all over the world."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was named USAID's acting director on Monday and has advocated for foreign assistance agencies to be more transparent about how aid is being implemented. Rubio said the Trump administration was reviewing each program to see if it makes the US safer, stronger, and more prosperous.

At the start of Trump's presidency, his administration froze billions in humanitarian aid, saying that many foreign assistance programs promoted liberal agendas or cost the US unnecessarily large amounts.

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