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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered an immediate stop to work in almost all existing foreign aid programs pending a review whether they are in accordance with President Donald Trump’s policies, according Financial Times.
The measure will affect international aid contracts administered by Washington, including through the US Agency for International Development, worth billions of dollars and countries spread around the world.
In the cable sent to the State Department and USAID on Friday, Rubio said all new disbursements of foreign aid had to be suspended, and contracting officers and grant officers had to “immediately issue work orders. when the secretary will determine, after a review. ”
The review period is expected to last for 85 days, leaving the fate of hundreds of US foreign aid contracts, worth more than $ 70 billion in the 2022 fiscal year, potentially in limbo for as long as three months.
Rubio also ordered that all foreign aid disbursed through any agency or department be approved by the Secretary of State, centralizing the verification of all international aid programs within his office.
Rubio’s cable implements an executive order signed by Trump his first day in office. In it the president rejected the “foreign aid industry and the” bureaucracy “as not aligned with American interests and in many cases anti -values with American values,” and demanded that help be suspended.
In the early days of his second term at the White House, Trump has taken aggressive steps to reformulate and redirect all US government agencies to implement his policies.
Scientific agencies like the National Institute of Health have also banned the work of grants pending the new administration review, alarming the researchers.
There are some exceptions from the Rubios aid freezing order, among them the “approved waiver” for military financing for Israel and Egypt, as well as the foreign aid of urgent food. But the cable said that in addition to banning new and existing contracts, US government agencies, including USAID, should prohibit the publication of proposals for foreign aid projects.
At the beginning of this week, Rubio said in a statement that Trump had asked him to “establish our essential national interest as the guiding US foreign policy mission”, saying that his main advantages were the inhibition of mass migration and destruction of climate policies that “weaken” America.
“Dollardo dollar we spend, every program we finance, and every policy we pursue must be justified by answering the three simple questions: Does America make America stronger? Does America make America more prosperous? “
The State Department has approached for comment.
