Pursuant to an executive order President Trump signed Monday night, it freezes all new awards of funding by the agencies ‘until further notice.’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio initiated a comprehensive review of all U.S. foreign assistance funding for consistency with President Trump’s agenda, according to a diplomatic cable issued yesterday, which was obtained exclusively by National Review.
Pursuant to an executive order President Trump signed Monday night, it freezes all new awards of funding by the agencies “until further notice” and bars the processing of new solicitations of funding and requests for proposals of assistance programs until the conclusion of a review. “Decisions regarding the obligation of these funds will be made following the review,” it states.
Within 30 days, every office and bureau is required to provide State’s foreign assistance bureau with a “list of all active, pending, or proposed grants, subcontracts, contracts, or subcontracts, and provide a clear and concise statement explaining if and how the current or proposed use of obligated funds advances President Trump’s policy,” per the cable.
It does not describe further criteria according to which officials will conduct the review, though it tasks the department’s internal think tank, the office of policy planning with developing standards for it. State’s director of policy planning is also tasked with ensuring that “all State Department and USAID non-security foreign assistance is aligned with President Trump’s foreign policy agenda” and with coordinating the creation of one database for all State Department funding awards — a massive departure from a status quo that critics pan as opaque and liable to fueling left-wing social ideologies antithetical to U.S. interests.
“It is currently impossible to access sufficient information in one place to determine whether the foreign assistance policies and interests supported by appropriations are both effective and consistent with the policies of President Trump,” the Rubio cable states.
The Trump order Rubio is implementing froze new foreign development assistance for 90 days, pending a review by the new administration for efficiency and consistency with U.S. foreign policy goals.
Foreign development assistance grants issued by the Biden administration had come under fire for promoting left-wing social programs. Republican lawmakers zeroed in on programs that promoted atheism abroad, funded drag queen festivals, and reflected the Biden-era department’s emphasis on DEI principles, among others. During the Trump administration, officials tried to centralize information about development grants in one location. But those efforts were resisted, and U.S. government officials often declined to tell Congress the names of grant awardees, invoking national security waivers.
Rubio has embarked on a broad reorientation of America’s diplomatic arm around the goal of promoting U.S. interests. Also yesterday, he issued a separate cable detailing his vision for a “sweeping” overhaul of the department, which includes the elimination of DEI-related efforts.