USAID contractors Chemonics, Credence, furlough or lay off hundreds amid Trump’s foreign aid freeze

Hundreds of employees at USAID contractors Chemonics International and Credence Management Solutions are facing furloughs or layoffs following President Donald Trump’s executive order pausing all foreign aid for 90 days.

Chemonics, a Washington, DC-based firm with USAID contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, confirmed that it has furloughed more than 600 workers, mostly in the Greater Washington area, due to stop-work orders affecting its projects, Washington Business Journal reported. McLean-based Credence Management Solutions has laid off nearly 400 employees, many of whom worked under an $800 million global health contract, according to LinkedIn posts and anonymous sources cited by the Journal.

Trump’s 24 Jan directive ordered a “government-wide comprehensive review” of foreign assistance, throwing USAID—a $43 billion agency administering humanitarian programs worldwide—into uncertainty. The move aligns with Republican calls to restructure or dismantle the agency. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, now acting USAID director, told Congress that parts of the agency’s work could be absorbed into the State Department, with the rest potentially eliminated, according to the Washington Post.

The contractor layoffs come as USAID staff brace for mass furloughs, with most of its 10,000 employees expected to be placed on leave. Companies reliant on USAID funding—including DAI Global and Abt Global—have also announced hundreds of furloughs or permanent job cuts, adding to the instability in the government contracting sector.