Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver on Tuesday exempting “life-saving humanitarian assistance” from President Trump’s executive order pausing nearly all foreign aid during a period of review.
Trump’s executive order pausing funding, issued on his first day in office, suspended any new U.S. foreign development assistance for 90 days and directed a review of foreign aid programs to ensure they lined up with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.
The executive order also included a waiver for the secretary of State to waive the rules for “specific programs.”
“To carry out President Trump’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, yesterday I approved an additional waiver of the pause for life-saving humanitarian assistance during the period of the review,” Rubio said in a statement Wednesday.
The statement directed “implementers” of the life-saving programs to “continue or resume work if they have stopped, subject to the directions outlined in this waiver.”
“This resumption is temporary in nature, and with limited exceptions as needed to continue life-saving humanitarian assista.nce programs, no new contracts shall be entered into,” the statement continued.
The waiver Tuesday specified that life-saving humanitarian assistance refers to “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance,” in addition to other “reasonable” administrative costs needed to deliver the aid.
The waiver does not apply to activities such as abortions, family planning, gender or DEI ideology programs, transgender surgeries “or other non-life saving assistance,” the waiver read.
Following Trump’s executive order, the State Department on Friday imposed a wide-ranging halt of U.S. funding for projects abroad, excluding military aid and food programs for Egypt and Israel. It cut billions of dollars to back anti-corruption, development, health and other programs.
The U.S. allocated around $60 billion for aid dispersed around the world in 2023, according to The Associated Press.
Trump’s executive order pausing foreign aid sparked concern among Democrats and some Republicans about the effect such a pause would have on allies in Ukraine and Taiwan and on the evolving situation in the Middle East.
Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) — the top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House National Security, Department of State and Related Programs (NSRP) Appropriations Subcommittee, respectively — wrote a letter to Rubio on Friday asking him to lift the foreign aid pause, expressing concern that it placed lives “at risk” and “undermines American leadership and credibility around the world.”
“Foreign assistance is not a handout,” they wrote. “It is a strategic investment in our future that is vital for U.S. global leadership and a more resilient world. It directly serves our national interests and demonstrates our credibility to allies, partners, and vulnerable people who rely on American assistance for survival.”
“World-altering events are currently unfolding in Syria and Lebanon, and it is undoubtedly in the U.S. national interest to shape these events,” they added. “By pausing all of our current programs and not being able to respond to new opportunities, we cede this space to Iran and other adversaries and threaten to undermine promising regional developments.”
