Over the last few days, there have been major changes to the largest foreign aid agency in the world.

On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced heis now the Acting Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"Every dollar we spend and every program we fund will be aligned with the national interest of the United States and USAID has a history of ignoring this and deciding that they’re a global charity and ignoring that. These are taxpayer dollars," he told reporters during a stop in El Salvador.

The agency has for years been a target, for some on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who said this back in 2012:

Well-intentioned people vote to give aid to countries in hopes they will promote freedom democracy and United States interests abroad. Too often though it does none of those things.”

The money is tracked by the government with a world map that shows where the money goes: largely South America, Africa and Asia.

Taxpayer funding for USAID doubled from the beginning of Trump’s first term in 2017 to the end of President Joe Biden’s, rising from $20,5 billion in 2017 to $42.4 billion in 2023. The increase was largely to account for aid to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion.

It's money President Donald Trump appears to want to cut off entirely as part of his "America First" policy. He has said for years he prefers to devote more resources here at home, a position he's held since his first term.

During a September 2018 speech before the United Nations General Assembly, he said, “The United States is the world’s largest giver in the world, by far, of foreign aid. But few give anything to us.”

Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief Elon Musk, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said he was working to shut down the agency in a discussion online Monday morning.

USAID is a ball of worms. There, there is no apple. Um, and when there is no apple, that's, there's you've just got to basically get rid of the whole thing," Musk said.

Trump appears to support the decision, telling reporters, “I love the concept, but they turned out to be radical left lunatics. The concept of it is good but it's all about the people.”

Workers were notified by email not to come into the office, that the Washington headquarters would be closed.

Two senior officials were placed on leave after refusing to allow DOGE employees to access files including classified information.

Several Democratic lawmakers appeared outside headquarters Monday afternoon.

“It is the lead development agency in the word and no one elected Elon Musk to dismantle it," said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

USAID was founded in 1961. President John F. Kennedy cited our economic and moral obligations to help developing countries.

An agency video outlines its role in providing humanitarian assistance, promoting global health building communities and supporting Democracy and U.S. National Security, with warnings about its work being blocked.

"This has nothing to do with making the U.S. government more efficient and everything to do with aiding and abetting our adversaries around the world," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Monday.

He and others insist they are already exploring legal options, calling the interference unconstitutional.