Gates has sharply criticized Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), for overseeing severe cuts to the U.S. foreign aid budget. Musk has publicly boasted about “feeding the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) into the wood chipper,” leading to the elimination of around 80% of USAID programs, which spent $44 billion globally in fiscal 2023.
These cuts have dismantled critical aid infrastructure, including vaccination and emergency food programs, directly impacting the world’s poorest children.