Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 28 issued a waiver for some humanitarian aid, exempting it from President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on foreign assistance.
“This waiver does not apply to activities that involve abortions, family planning, conferences, administrative costs ... gender or [diversity, equity, and inclusion] ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance,” he said.
The pause is in place pending reviews of foreign aid to ensure that funding is going to programs aligned with the president’s foreign policy, according to Trump’s executive order.
The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally. In fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in assistance.
The State Department said in a new fact sheet that Rubio’s review of foreign assistance programs is already paying dividends.
“We are rooting out waste. We are blocking woke programs. And we are exposing activities that run contrary to our national interests,” the agency stated. “None of this would be possible if these programs remained on autopilot.”
In the days that the pause has been in place, the department has received waiver requests for billions of dollars in funding. Most of those requests are still under a merit-based review because they are not considered emergency or life-threatening, according to the department. Some requests have already been rejected because they’ve been deemed out of alignment with Trump’s agenda.
Rubio has said that it’s important to examine the funding to ensure that it makes the United States safer, stronger, or more prosperous.
A previous State Department memo informed staffers that the pause meant a “complete halt” on foreign aid, with exceptions for emergency humanitarian food assistance and officials returning to their duty stations.
