US State Department could cut its budget by about half, reports say

Department spokeswoman stresses no final plan has been approved

Secretary of State Marco Rubio would need to approve proposed cuts. UPI / Bloomberg

The Trump administration is reportedly considering slashing the US State Department's budget by about half, further shrinking Washington's diplomatic reach around the world and dismantling more global health programmes.

The proposals, in an internal departmental memo obtained by several US media outlets and said to be under serious discussion by senior officials, would eliminate almost all funding for international organisations, including the UN and Nato.

US President Donald Trump and his top campaign donor Elon Musk are waging a war on government spending and have already cut the vast majority of foreign aid programmes and largely disbanded the US Agency for International Development.

When asked about the memo on Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that no final budget had been approved by the Trump administration. Only the US Congress – in which the majority Republicans still need some Democratic votes to pass most laws – can authorise such cuts.

“There is no final plan, final budget, final dynamic,” Ms Bruce said. “That is up to the White House and the president of the United States as they continue to work on their budget plan and what they will submit to Congress,” Ms Bruce said.

She said that the US has a “complete commitment” to Nato.

US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce speaks at the State Department in Washington on April 15. AFP

The American Foreign Service Association called the proposed cuts “reckless and dangerous”, while former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul posted on X that such deep cuts would be an “outrageously bad decision” and a “giant gift to the Communist Party of China".

The memo, dated April 10, was prepared by Pete Marocco, who led efforts to cut government foreign aid programmes, and Douglas Pitkin, in charge of budget planning for the State Department.

The memo says the State Department will request a $28.4 billion budget in fiscal year 2026, starting on October 1, according to The New York Times – $26 billion less than the 2025 figure.

Although it has little to say about humanitarian aid, programmes tackling tropical disease, providing vaccines to children in developing nations and promoting maternal and child health would go, the Times reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio would need to sign off on the proposed cuts, and it was not clear if he had done so.

Mr Rubio wrote on X on Tuesday that the State Department had cancelled another 139 grants worth $214 million for “misguided programmes,” giving an anti-hate speech project in Britain as one example.