SA国际传谋 has partnered with PolitiFact to fact-check Florida politicians. The Pulitzer Prize-winning team seeks to present the true facts, unaffected by agenda or biases.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was once a longtime supporter of the recently gutted U.S. Agency for International Development. You wouldn鈥檛 know that from his early days as USAID鈥檚 acting director under President Donald Trump.
The agency that then-Sen. Rubio hailed for its "critical" and "important" programs? Rubio now says it suffers from disorganization and "rank insubordination" that hinders Trump鈥檚 foreign policy.
Trump and Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk are pushing for major upheaval at USAID, including the shedding of all but 300 of its roughly , or roughly 97% of its workforce. Rubio has helped carry out Trump鈥檚 agenda, although those reductions are being .
"U.S. AID systems and processes are not well synthesized, integrated, or coordinated, and often result in discord in the foreign policy and foreign relations of the United States," Rubio wrote in a Feb. 3 to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. "This undermines the president鈥檚 ability to carry out foreign relations."
In a Feb. 5 Fox News , Rubio said USAID may be consolidated directly into the State Department. "The goal was to reform it, but now we have rank insubordination," he said.
On occasion, PolitiFact uses its to measure a politician鈥檚 consistency on particular issues. The rating does not make a value judgment about a politician who changes positions, but rather documents changes over time.
Rubio鈥檚 recent remarks about the agency show a marked departure from his prior stance as a defender of at least some USAID programs as vital for improving American national security and world health.
The State Department did not respond to an inquiry from PolitiFact.
Rubio regularly touted USAID鈥檚 work as a senator
During his 14 years as a Republican senator from Florida, Rubio repeatedly USAID for its work across a broad range of issues, from ensuring free and fair elections in to supporting humanitarian efforts in to providing hurricane relief in the .
At the same time, he also called for increased transparency within the agency, saying USAID鈥檚 funds must be spent effectively.
"In every region of the world, we should always search for ways to use U.S. aid and humanitarian assistance to strengthen our influence, the effectiveness of our leadership, and the service of our interests and ideals," Rubio said during a 2012 at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "Foreign aid is a very cost-effective way, not only to export our values and our example, but to advance our security and our economic interests."
In and , Rubio sponsored bills to create clear goals, define performance metrics and establish plans for monitoring and evaluating U.S. foreign assistance programs. A version of this , not sponsored by Rubio, passed the Senate in 2016 and became law.
From 2016 to 2023, under presidents of both parties, Rubio praised the agency on social media for providing hurricane relief in ; combating , , and (aid he called "critical"); providing to after the reelection of President Nicola虂s Maduro (aid he called "important"); and providing with humanitarian aid at the Russia-Ukraine war鈥檚 outset.
Rubio co-sponsored a with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that allocated USAID funding for violence prevention in certain countries and granted money to support USAID鈥檚 Global Initiative to Reduce Fragility and Violence.
He co-sponsored other bills that propose work for USAID, including a 2021 to advance global women鈥檚 rights, a 2022 to protect victims of international human trafficking, a 2017 authorizing $50 million for USAID involvement to combat substance abuse in the Philippines, and a 2021 for expanding access to education. He also wrote a 2021 to President Joe Biden urging USAID humanitarian relief in Colombia.
In a 2018 letter to then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Rubio, Kaine, and then-Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., , "We believe it is critical that USAID continue to play an active role in providing technical assistance, education and training to support countries鈥� efforts to strengthen electoral systems. USAID鈥檚 democracy and governance programs are vital for capacity building."
Assessing USAID鈥檚 financial cost, political influence
In the past, Rubio has framed USAID as a relatively inexpensive investment in the nation鈥檚 security.
Many Americans how much the government spends on foreign aid, and Rubio repeatedly emphasized how small a portion of the federal budget foreign aid comprises. All foreign aid $68 billion, or about 1% of the total spent by the government in recent years; USAID itself is responsible for of that $68 billion, or about 0.7% of all spending.
"Foreign aid as a part of our overall budget is less than 1% of the total amount the U.S. government spends," Rubio said in a . "I think it is important for those of us who believe in global engagement and believe in the function of foreign aid to justify it, to never take it for granted, and to constantly examine it to make sure the money is being spent well and that it is worth spending at all."
In 2019, Rubio against cutting foreign aid as a way to meaningfully lower the federal debt.
"Anybody who tells you that we can slash foreign aid and that will bring us to balance is lying to you," he said in the to the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.
Rubio saw aid as a foreign policy tool to deter Chinese influence.
In a 2022 to Biden, Rubio said USAID must receive funding "to send a clear message that the United States has a comprehensive strategy to counter the Chinese Communist Party鈥檚 (CCP) expanding global influence and the increasing threat it poses to U.S. security interests and those of our allies and partners."
In the Feb. 3 Fox News , Rubio said USAID funding had little to do with combating the Chinese Communist Party鈥檚 influence 鈥� and that aid from the Chinese government would not fill the foreign aid vacuum.
In his new role, Rubio acknowledged some of his past commentary. According to a partial transcript obtained by , Rubio said at a private embassy event that "foreign aid is the least popular thing government spends money on. And I spent a lot of time in my career defending it and explaining it. But it鈥檚 harder and harder to do across the board. It really is."
Rubio said foreign policy leaders understand foreign aid "is essential," but "it has to be programs that we can defend. It has to be programs that we can explain. It has to be programs that we can justify. Otherwise, we do endanger foreign aid."
This may sound as if Rubio favors a cautious, deliberate effort to discern which programs should be continued and which ones should be ended. But that clashes with his recent actions, which have precipitated a cut of 97% of the agency鈥檚 staff.
Our ruling
On at least two dozen occasions over more than a decade 鈥� including in speeches, social media posts, and bill introductions 鈥� Rubio praised USAID鈥檚 work, from hurricane relief to battling infectious diseases to aiding refugees. He spoke broadly of the agency鈥檚 importance for American interests and countering China.
That yearslong record of praise contrasts sharply with his 2025 letter to Congress that said the agency鈥檚 failure "undermines the president鈥檚 ability to carry out foreign relations," and the sudden, nearly across-the-board cuts he is executing.
Rubio鈥檚 change of message 鈥� from repeatedly praising USAID鈥檚 value to the U.S. and the world from 2012 to 2023, to saying it鈥檚 a danger to U.S. foreign policy in 2025 and abolishing most of its employees and work 鈥� rates as a Full Flop.
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