USAID has $19B to close out agency. Critics push to use funds to save lives

The shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has told Congress it has $19 billion in funds to cover costs associated with closing out the programs it terminated last year, according to a notification sent late last month and obtained by The Hill. 

The notification acknowledges that the price of closing out the agency is likely to cost less than the multibillion-dollar number, but it’s unclear where the leftover funds will go. 

Humanitarian aid experts and Democrats are urging the administration to show some urgency in disbursing it for dire humanitarian needs. 

“If I was an appropriator, I’d be alarmed that the administration is withholding life-saving aid,” said Sam Vigersky, international affairs fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. “Between the war with Iran and global funding cuts from the U.S. and others, needs are near record highs. We’re in a moment where every dollar matters.”

USAID was fed “into the woodchipper,” as described by tech billionaire Elon Musk in February 2025. Musk, leading his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), took on the task of shutting down USAID. It locked out staff members and took over the computer systems, terminating the majority of programs in the agency’s roughly $40 billion annual budget. 

Researchers estimated that more than 500,000 children and more than 260,000 adults died as a result of the aid cuts.

On April 20, a notification was sent to Congress from USAID detailing that it planned to use remaining funds to cover costs associated with the closeout of terminated foreign assistance awards. The notification was first reported by Devex.

“Unobligated and/or unliquidated funds that remain after USAID has completed all closeout actions........

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