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Fact check: Which USAID programs were completely defunded in the 2024 budget?
Executive Summary
The available summaries and reporting do not identify a definitive list of USAID programs that were individually and completely defunded in the 2024 budget; instead, multiple sources report large-scale cancellations and dismantling actions that affected the bulk of USAID programming, with claims that roughly 83% of programs were halted and that only a few initiatives—such as PEPFAR—were spared [1] [2] [3]. Independent studies cited in the reporting warn of severe health consequences from those cuts, estimating millions of excess deaths if funding reductions persist, but the specific program-level eliminations remain unenumerated in these summaries [4] [5].
1. What the sources actually claim about program-level defunding — dramatic agency-wide cuts, not named line-items
The reporting and summaries converge on a common narrative: the Trump administration and Congress enacted actions in 2024–2025 that dismantled large portions of USAID, cancelling a substantial share of its portfolio rather than enumerating discrete program terminations. Multiple pieces state that roughly 83% of USAID programs were cancelled or frozen, and that the agency’s institutional structure was reconfigured or dissolved in practice, yet none of the provided summaries list program names or specific line-item eliminations [3] [1] [2]. This pattern indicates reporting focused on aggregate impacts rather than granular budgetary roll calls.
2. Conflicting authorities and who says what — Congress, administration, and researchers
The documents present three distinct voices: journalistic summaries describing policy maneuvers and institutional dismantling, statements about legislative approvals of terminations, and academic analyses projecting health impacts. Reports note that Congress approved requests to terminate nearly $8 billion in international assistance and that the administration sought to terminate nearly $13 billion overall, signaling formal budget reductions even when program lists were not provided [6]. Separately, study authors estimate mortality impacts tied to those funding reductions, creating a data-driven rationale for alarm while leaving program-level attribution unspecified [3] [4].
3. The one program singled out as spared — PEPFAR and what that implies
One source explicitly names PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) as being spared amid the broader dismantling, implying selective preservation of politically salient or legislatively protected initiatives while the rest of USAID’s portfolio faced cuts [2]. The selective retention of PEPFAR suggests priorities shaped by prior congressional commitments and public health visibility; however, the sources do not indicate whether PEPFAR’s scope was unchanged or subject to administrative alterations, nor do they provide a complete inventory of other programs that might have persisted in reduced form.
4. What independent studies add — mortality projections tied to funding levels
Academic analyses published in outlets including The Lancet are cited as quantifying the potential human cost of the funding reductions, estimating that cuts could be associated with more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including over 4.5 million children under five, and asserting that higher USAID funding historically correlated with lower all-cause and under-five mortality [4] [5]. These studies infer impacts from macro-level funding changes rather than tracing outcomes to specific canceled projects, which limits their capacity to pinpoint which program terminations would cause which harms, though they underscore the severity of aggregate funding loss.
5. Gaps, omissions and why no program list appears in the sources
All supplied reporting and analyses conspicuously lack a granular enumeration of completely defunded USAID programs in the 2024 budget, highlighting a reporting gap between aggregate budget/agency actions and program-level accounting [7] [6]. This gap may reflect the pace and complexity of administrative changes, differing classifications of program status (paused, restructured, cancelled), or the sources’ focus on macroeconomic and health consequences rather than line-by-line budget audits. The absence of a named list in these summaries means claims about specific program eliminations cannot be substantiated from the provided materials.
6. Bottom line: what can be stated with confidence and what remains unverified
From the materials provided, one can confidently state that the 2024–2025 actions resulted in large-scale cancellations and institutional dismantling at USAID, widely reported as affecting roughly 83% of programs, with PEPFAR noted as an exception, and with independent studies warning of severe mortality consequences [3] [2] [4]. What cannot be confirmed from these sources is a definitive roster of USAID programs that were completely defunded in the 2024 budget; that level of specificity is omitted across the summaries and would require access to detailed appropriations documents, agency termination notices, or a consolidated program-level audit not included here [6].
7. Recommended next steps to resolve remaining questions
To obtain a verifiable list of programs completely defunded in the 2024 budget, consult primary budget documents and agency notices: the USAID appropriation and reprogramming bills, Congressional appropriations reports, formal termination letters, and a program-by-program audit released by USAID or the Government Accountability Office. The supplied reporting makes clear the scale and stakes of the cuts, but resolving which programs were entirely eliminated requires direct primary-source budgetary records and agency confirmations beyond the summaries provided here [6] [1].