A month ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration has completed the removal of foreign aid and maintained only a small portfolio of life-saving humanitarian programs.
But over the past few days, the Trump administration has cut down many programs it has pledged to preserve, according to a list compiled by government officials and aid workers. Cut threatens to leave some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people without access to a supply of proper food, clean water and medicine.
Countries like Afghanistan and Yemen, where millions of people don’t have enough food, humanitarian assistance in US aid has been completely cut off. Several countries where the conflict displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, including Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have lost millions of dollars to support important food aid.
UN World Food Programme to distribute aid and coordinate shipping; I said it on social media The termination of these programs could “be a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.”
The cuts have been part of the Trump administration’s efforts to erase the US International Development Agency, and have been the government’s main outfit for distributing foreign aid for decades. The State Department says it will control the rest of the USAID functions by August 15th, and that Pete Marrocco, who presided over the agency’s first outrage, will oversee them.
Like many of the recent Trump administration’s moves to destroy federal agencies, the latest rollbacks have been dramatic and sometimes volatile.
Last week, some USAID officials were given a list of contracts and awards that remained active. But by the weekend, many of these projects had been x, leaving government workers and external organisations that were luring many programs.
Afterwards, on Tuesday, several programs were restored with little explanation.
The World Food Program was one of the largest implementing organizations to experience whiplash.
Fund cuts rolled out over the weekend will crippling the programme in 14 countries: Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Ecuador, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Funds for Ecuador, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and Syria recovered on Tuesday.
However, in countries that are blacklisted, the impact of reductions can be devastating.
The World Food Program estimates that US fund losses in Afghanistan will end food aid, which is dependent on by around 2 million people, including around 400,000 malnourished children and mothers. In Yemen, food aid for 2.4 million people will end, while in Congo, all food aid in the eastern part of the country will end.
The Trump administration has also cut funding for the UN Humanitarian Aviation Services, which is managed by the World Food Program, which transports aid workers and supplies remotely.
According to current and former USAID employees, the reductions are not carried out through the usual process, according to regular and former USAID employees. This said that officials responsible for terminating the award are usually learning the finished programme from the organizations that provide assistance.
It appears that President Trump has ordered a few cuts. In an email reviewed by the New York Times, Marrocco told a colleague on Friday that he wanted to know whether the White House is still complying with the president’s order to stop all payments in Afghanistan.
The White House did not answer questions about Trump’s role in ordering cuts to Afghanistan.
The other cuts appear to have been coordinated by Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old lawyer who has recently been selected to run USAID and is working on a cost-cutting task force assembled by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
In an email he sent to staff on Tuesday that he announced funds for certain World Food Programs would be recovering, Lewin apologised for the coming and going, according to people familiar with the content.
On Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce struggled to answer questions about whether Rubio was involved in approving the latest cut.
“Of course, I know he’s completely involved in the first place. I know that the review has officially ended. I know his schedule too,” she told reporters, and finally, “My goal is to get a more comprehensive answer about our current process.”
Trump requested in January to request a “suspension” on all foreign aid that has been pending review. Later that month, Rubio promised that life-humanitarian assistance would continue unabated.
However, at a meeting of the World Food Program Executive Committee in mid-February, the Trump administration issued a statement showing serious warnings against the exemption.
“President Trump has made it clear that the US will no longer eliminate money without profiting for the American people,” he said. ” I read it. “WFP should not advance political ideology while implementing life-saving tasks,” the statement, referring to “gender ideology” and diversity, equity and inclusion, added.
Despite Rubio’s promises, it is not the only form of aid the Trump administration has continued to shrink. Over the past few days, the administration has fired a handful of remaining health officials overseeing HIV prevention and treatment for children and pregnant women through AIDS relief or the president’s emergency plan for Pepfer.
Some of Pepfar’s funds remain intact, but staff members, including all departments within USAID and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which provided HIV prevention and treatment, have been fired. Employees of the Pepfar-funded program in Africa say they don’t know yet which services will continue.
On Wednesday, the administration will cut further global health and close the funds Programs that worked to end neglected tropical diseases Includes river blindness and intestinal worms in seven of the poorest countries in West Africa.
The fate of funding for other major health programs, such as Gavi, an organization that helps children procurement of vaccines in developing countries, remains unknown.
Stephanie Noren Contributed report from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Amy Schoenfeld Walker From New York Ryan Mac From Los Angeles.
