President Donald Trump has suspended dozens of government officials for trying to circumvent his executive order on freezing all foreign aid.
Dozens of career government officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development were placed on leave on Monday. One agency staffer told the Wall Street Journal that 57 people were affected.
‘We have identified several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive orders and the mandate from the American people,’ said the newly installed acting administrator, Jason Gray, in an email obtained by The Washington Post.
‘As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice.’
President Donald Trump, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, on Air Force One
Trump, on January 24th, declared the State Department and the U.S. AID ‘shall not provide foreign assistance’ until a high-level review of the programs is completed, except to Israel and Egypt and in severe cases where emergency food assistance is needed.
The 90-day pause is to ensure all programs conform with Trump’s ‘America First’ policy and the administration threatened ‘disciplinary action’ for any staff ignoring the orders.
The U.S. has an annual $60 billion annual foreign aid budget and is the world’s No. 1 provider of humanitarian aid.
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a ‘stop-work’ order, meaning nongovernment organizations or charity groups had to stop using any American funding they have already received, while the programs were reviewed.
That affects everything from childhood vaccine programs to counter-terrorism training.
It’s halted a program to combat HIV worldwide that is credited with saving about 25 million lives, stopped supplies to a 40,000-person refugee camp in Syria, and hurt famine-stricken Sudan, where at least 24.6 million people urgently need food assistance.
And it’s stopped military assistance to Ukraine, Jordan and Taiwan.
Trump’s order freezes aid to HIV clinics in Africa – like the one pictured above in South Africa
The freeze also affects funds for Syrian refugees
Humanitarian groups have flooded the State Department with wavier requests, arguing the funding is critical and lives could be lost.
But the State Department argues the three-month pause is needed so the agency can ensure the foreign-assistance programs are efficient and support Trump’s ‘America First agenda.’
Waivers must go through two layers of scrutiny: one from USAID leadership and another by Rubio.
‘Any waiver must be thoroughly justified to demonstrate that the specific assistance for which the waiver is sought is necessary for lifesaving purposes, cannot be performed by current U.S. direct hire staff, or would otherwise pose significant risks to national security,’ a memo obtained by Reuters said.
All foreign assistance programs will undergo ‘comprehensive review’ during the pause in spending, the memo says. ‘It is important to emphasize that it is no longer business as usual. Every program will be thoroughly scrutinized.’
