Washington, DC — Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a second letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressing him to explain his claim before Congress that no deaths have resulted from the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID and deep cuts to U.S. foreign assistance.
This letter follows one the Ranking Member sent to the Secretary in June, after the State Department had dismissed initial reports of deaths related to the Trump Administration’s foreign aid cuts. New reporting highlights the widespread suffering and death caused as a result of the administration’s mishandling of foreign assistance. The letter also comes in light of the recent charges brought against former FBI Director James Comey by the Department of Justice for allegedly making false statements to Congress while under oath, calling out the administration’s hypocrisy and again asking about the basis for statements Secretary Rubio previously made to Congress.
Text of the letter is below. A copy of the letter is here.
Dear Secretary Rubio,
Considering the charges U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi brought against former FBI Director James Comey for making false statements to Congress while under oath in violation of 18 USC 1001, and in light of additional press reporting, I am following up once again on my request that you clarify your May 21, 2025, testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This testimony appears to be false and misleading.
On June 16, 2025, I requested information regarding your testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 21, 2025. Given the failure of the Department of State to provide adequate responses to my first letter, I write today to follow-up on my request. The Department’s July 9, 2025, response ignored the central questions raised in my June 16 letter. It failed to explain the consequences of the foreign aid freeze and subsequent program terminations, and it did not address your testimony that “no one has died” as a result of your cuts and your asserting that reports to the contrary were a “lie” and “false.”
That claim is demonstrably untrue. Since your testimony,?The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Associated Press?have reported multiple deaths directly linked to the termination of U.S. assistance programs.
A July 19, 2025, study published in The Lancet found that your cuts on USAID programs are projected to cause the preventable deaths of approximately 690,000 children under the age of five in 2025 and 829,000 in 2026. The study estimates that since January 24, 2025, an average of 88 children per hour have died from HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrhea as a direct result of your funding cuts.
Moreover, as cited in my June 16 letter, ProPublica obtained internal State Department cables from April and May 2025 that detailed deaths of refugees at food distribution centers in Kenya, sent – well in advance of your testimony. The Washington Post separately reported on an April 21, 2025, cable warning of a likely resurgence of HIV in the Democratic Republic of Congo following your “abrupt elimination” of PEPFAR programs and noted that HIV medicines and other supplies were “stranded.” Despite this evidence, neither you or the Department have corrected the record or acknowledged that lives have been lost as a result of the foreign assistance cuts you authorized.
Any correction or clarification of your statements in response to my outstanding request must be submitted in writing to the Committee no later than?October 31, 2025. I also renew my request that the Department produce to the Committee, on a rolling basis, any and all records generated since January 20, 2025 (to include, but not limited to, cables, memoranda, emails, and electronic messages) referring or relating to the impacts of the freeze or termination of U.S. foreign assistance programs after January 24, 2025. I look forward to your reply.
This letter follows one the Ranking Member sent to the Secretary in June, after the State Department had dismissed initial reports of deaths related to the Trump Administration’s foreign aid cuts. New reporting highlights the widespread suffering and death caused as a result of the administration’s mishandling of foreign assistance. The letter also comes in light of the recent charges brought against former FBI Director James Comey by the Department of Justice for allegedly making false statements to Congress while under oath, calling out the administration’s hypocrisy and again asking about the basis for statements Secretary Rubio previously made to Congress.
Text of the letter is below. A copy of the letter is here.
Dear Secretary Rubio,
Considering the charges U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi brought against former FBI Director James Comey for making false statements to Congress while under oath in violation of 18 USC 1001, and in light of additional press reporting, I am following up once again on my request that you clarify your May 21, 2025, testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This testimony appears to be false and misleading.
On June 16, 2025, I requested information regarding your testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 21, 2025. Given the failure of the Department of State to provide adequate responses to my first letter, I write today to follow-up on my request. The Department’s July 9, 2025, response ignored the central questions raised in my June 16 letter. It failed to explain the consequences of the foreign aid freeze and subsequent program terminations, and it did not address your testimony that “no one has died” as a result of your cuts and your asserting that reports to the contrary were a “lie” and “false.”
That claim is demonstrably untrue. Since your testimony,?The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Associated Press?have reported multiple deaths directly linked to the termination of U.S. assistance programs.
A July 19, 2025, study published in The Lancet found that your cuts on USAID programs are projected to cause the preventable deaths of approximately 690,000 children under the age of five in 2025 and 829,000 in 2026. The study estimates that since January 24, 2025, an average of 88 children per hour have died from HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrhea as a direct result of your funding cuts.
Moreover, as cited in my June 16 letter, ProPublica obtained internal State Department cables from April and May 2025 that detailed deaths of refugees at food distribution centers in Kenya, sent – well in advance of your testimony. The Washington Post separately reported on an April 21, 2025, cable warning of a likely resurgence of HIV in the Democratic Republic of Congo following your “abrupt elimination” of PEPFAR programs and noted that HIV medicines and other supplies were “stranded.” Despite this evidence, neither you or the Department have corrected the record or acknowledged that lives have been lost as a result of the foreign assistance cuts you authorized.
Any correction or clarification of your statements in response to my outstanding request must be submitted in writing to the Committee no later than?October 31, 2025. I also renew my request that the Department produce to the Committee, on a rolling basis, any and all records generated since January 20, 2025 (to include, but not limited to, cables, memoranda, emails, and electronic messages) referring or relating to the impacts of the freeze or termination of U.S. foreign assistance programs after January 24, 2025. I look forward to your reply.