U.S. Senate preparing to vote on USAID cuts, which funded research at Indiana universities
The U.S. Senate has a deadline of July 18 to vote on President Donald Trump's $9 billion package of federal spending cuts, which would rescind previously approved funding for public media and codify DOGE's cuts from early 2025 that shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development. About $1 billion of the spending bill is tied to funding for NPR and PBS while the other $8 billion is dedicated to cuts to global aid initiatives, including USAID.
USAID dollars previously funded research at both private and public Indiana universities that explored topics such as food safety and education policy in low and middle-income countries.
The Trump administration has criticized USAID for "near-infinite" spending on programs that did not benefit American taxpayers or aligned with 'America First' priorities. In a July 1 post on Substack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said future global aid programs that are in line with the president's priorities will be administered by the State Department.
'USAID viewed its constituency as the United Nations, multinational NGOs, and the broader global community – not the U.S. taxpayers who funded its budget or the President the elected to represent their interests on the world stage,' Rubio wrote.
The Pulte Institute for Global Development at the University of Notre Dame said in April it already initiated staff reductions and ended projects that had received USAID dollars after DOGE-related funding cuts earlier this year.
'While the policy environment may be uncertain, our responsibility to support vulnerable communities is not,' the institute said in an April statement. 'The Pulte Institute, now operating under a new structure, continues its mission to connect Notre Dame's research with those working on the front lines of poverty, climate, education and health changes.'
In April, the Pulte Institute said federal cuts to USAID ended about $20 million in funding for research projects on early education and migration and 'disrupted data collection and analysis efforts in nearly 30 countries."
But funding cuts hit other universities as well. The nonpartisan Center for American Progress, which has tracked DOGE cuts through May, shows at least five USAID grant cuts at Indiana universities, although some of those programs may have already ended prior to the announced cuts.
Among the grants was one dedicated to Purdue University's Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety. The program, which was founded in 2019, led food safety research projects in multiple countries and in 2024 received $10 million in funding from USAID to extend its efforts.
It's unclear the status of those dollars at this point. Innovation Lab representatives and Purdue media contacts did not respond to questions about USAID funding from IndyStar prior to the deadline for this story. A federal government spending tracking website indicates nearly $4.5 million of grant funding for the Food Safety Innovation Lab has not been spent.
Earlier this year, Trump also cited a program at Purdue as an example of necessary federal spending cuts that were underway during his first month in office. While the president did not name the program, news outlets in February reported Trump's comments fit the description of LASER PULSE, a $70 million research program that partners with USAID.
LASER PULSE, part of the global development arm of Purdue's Applied Research Institute, is an initiative that researches solutions to challenges in USAID-partnering countries, according to its website.
'$70 million for a center at Purdue to research university-sourced, evidence-based solutions to developmental challenges," Trump said in February. "I mean, these are massive numbers on things that nobody has ever heard about."
If the U.S. Senate does not sign off on the spending cuts by July 18, the Trump administration would have to allow the billions dedicated to public media and foreign aid to be spent on the programs Congress previously approved.
The House narrowly passed the recissions bill in June, with Indiana's representatives supporting the bill along party lines. Both of Indiana's Republican senators plan to support the Trump administration's spending cuts. U.S. Sen. Todd Young, who before July 15 had not publicly shared his position on the legislation, said in a post on X he would support the recissions package.
"Passing this bill is a small but important step toward greater fiscal responsibility," Young said in the post.
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com.
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