Bill Gates Challenges Elon Musk-Led DOGE Approach To Shutting Down USAID, Asks If It Fits American Value System

Microsoft Corp. MSFT co-founder Bill Gates expressed concerns about the potential dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), challenging Americans to examine whether shuttering the agency aligns with their values.

What Happened: In an interview with Katie Couric released Thursday, Gates responded to recent moves by Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to shut down the agency. Musk had previously called USAID “evil” and “a vipers nest of radical left marxists” on his social media platform X.

“An abrupt ending of that work would really put to the test… is it in the value of Americans to take half a percent of the budget and keep tens of millions of Africans alive,” Gates said, noting that he funds USAID programs with billions of dollars.

The debate over USAID’s future has intensified amid significant developments. A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump administration’s plan to place 2,200 USAID employees on administrative leave, issuing a restraining order effective until Feb. 14. The order also reinstated approximately 500 workers who had already been furloughed.

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Why It Matters: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, recently appointed as USAID’s acting director, defended the restructuring efforts in a Fox News interview. “They have basically evolved into an agency that believes they’re not even a U.S. Government agency… they take taxpayer money and spend it as a global charity irrespective of whether it is in the national interest,” Rubio said.

Gates expressed hope that Rubio and Trump would work to preserve the agency’s core functions. “Whether that named agency stays in place… whether every program does, but the benefits of that work of USAID broadly are global,” Gates said, highlighting that about 80% of the agency’s HIV work focuses on Africa.

USAID currently stands as the world’s largest aid donor, with two-thirds of its 10,000 employees stationed overseas. The proposed restructuring would reduce the workforce to 611 employees.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.