American philanthropist Melinda French Gates knocked fellow billionaire Elon Musk’s approach at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying a “good manager” would be more careful before cutting off programs.
In a CNN interview that aired Tuesday, French Gates discussed her concerns about cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and was asked whether she thinks Musk, who’s been the public face of many of these cuts, “understands the value of the government in doing some of this work that has already saved millions of lives.”
“Well, all I can say is that a good manager doesn’t just immediately cut something off,” French Gates responded. “They go out. They understand the work. They see what differences have been made. And then you might say, ‘Okay, maybe 10 percent of it wasn’t being spent well, or this 5 percent over here was wasted in some way.’”
“None of us want that with our taxpayer dollars,” she continued. “But good management doesn’t say you just cut something immediately and then and even all those U.S. employees are gone. I just — that I don’t understand.”
French Gates announced last year that she was stepping down from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pursue new philanthropic pursuits. She and Microsoft founder Bill Gates divorced in 2021.
Their philanthropic foundation worked closely with the government and USAID in efforts to treat Malaria in children, and French Gates said she “couldn’t believe it” when she found out the government sought to dissolve the agency.
Since President Trump returned to the White House, his administration has quickly looked to dissolve the agency, claiming it is rife with fraud and moving to terminate thousands of employees.
Last month, the Trump administration sought to formally merge USAID with the State Department.
“My heart breaks for the people I have met,” French Gates said. “USAID is there. Their health systems are up and functioning. People literally know that, because of the US government, they are receiving maternal health services or food or pills for malaria.”
“So to have that pulled back, what does that say about us as a country?” she said, adding, “It makes no sense to me what has been done to USAID, given especially that Republican and Democratic administrations supported it in the past.”
