DOGE is shutting down foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation
The agency is offering voluntary early retirement or deferred resignations to its 320 employees and planning to terminate grants to developing countries around the world.
By Ben Johansen
The Millennium Challenge Corporation — a foreign aid agency that partners with over four dozen developing countries to promote economic growth — is being shut down by the Department of Government Efficiency, according to an all-staff email sent to employees Tuesday and obtained by POLITICO.
“We understand from the DOGE team there will soon be significant reduction in the number of MCC’s programs and relatedly the agency’s staff,” the acting CEO wrote in the email.
Established by Congress in 2004 under the George W. Bush administration, MCC has for years garnered bipartisan support and has been ranked by the aid transparency group Publish What You Fund as the world’s most transparent bilateral agency. MCC, which is independent from the State Department, currently has over $5.4 billion in active grants across 20 lower-income countries that have either been signed or are being implemented. DOGE’s targeting of the bipartisan agency adds to the Trump administration’s targeting of foreign aid groups.
The agency, which is made up of over 320 people, will offer both a voluntary early retirement and a deferred resignation program for eligible employees, according to the email. Those interested in the offer were instructed to send an email with the subject line “Request to Opt in: [DRP/VERA]” by the end of day April 29. Some employees may also be placed on administrative leave as soon as May 5, but the exact timing is unclear, according to the email.
In an all-staff meeting held Wednesday morning, leadership told employees that DOGE will draft a resolution as soon as next week for the agency’s board — made up of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the acting CEO and four private sector members — to terminate grants across the world within the next several months, according to an attendee who was granted anonymity to discuss internal meetings. (The acting CEO’s name was not included in the email screenshot POLITICO viewed.)
One employee, granted anonymity because they feared retribution, said the expectation is that within 90 days, all MCC operations will be terminated.
“Our agency has for the past 10 plus years had clean audits, and the reason we’re being closed, even according to the people from DOGE, has nothing to do with our agency being wasteful or corrupt,” the person said.
In December, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) sponsored and introduced legislation in support of the group, which would have expanded MCC’s authority to engage with a wider range of countries.
The all-staff announcement was made after a series of meetings between DOGE staffers Justin Fox and Nate Cavanaugh and MCC’s senior leadership that happened over the past two weeks.
A spokesperson for DOGE did not respond to a request for comment.
The looming shutdown of MCC also comes as DOGE’s leader, Elon Musk, said Tuesday that his days at the agency will soon be coming to an end due to Tesla’s abysmal first-quarter earnings report. But it shows DOGE won’t necessarily slow down its dismantling of agencies even after Musk steps back.
MCC has requested exemptions for some countries that have active grants, including Côte d’Ivoire, which requested a four-month wind down, and Mongolia, Senegal and Nepal, which all requested three-month wind downs, according to the meeting attendee.
“We have always been hailed as the model government agency that was efficient, effective and transparent,” the MCC employee said. “But obviously foreign aid is not a priority in this administration.”
Sophia Cai, Nahal Toosi, Jack Detsch and Carmen Paun contributed to this report.
Courtesy : POLITICO
Leave a Reply