US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who initially exempted only emergency food programmes and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the aid pause, agreed Tuesday to at least temporarily keep spending money on humanitarian programmes that provide life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, according to a copy of a signed waiver obtained by AP.
While some in the aid community expressed hope Rubio's move would rescue more of the programmes that keep alive refugees, the gravely ill, and others worldwide, US-funded operations of all kinds stepped up the pace of layoffs, furloughs, and programme shutdowns.
President Donald Trump ordered the 90-day freeze last week to give the administration time to review which of the thousands of humanitarian, development, and security programmes will keep getting money from the US.
Trump also paused federal grants and loans inside the United States, but a judge temporarily blocked that effort on Tuesday.
A blow to UN organizations
The Guardian reported that UN agencies have begun reducing their global aid operations following the suspension ordered by the Trump administration.
Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, which provides life-saving assistance to the 122 million people forcibly displaced from their homes across 136 countries, sent an overnight email to employees ordering an immediate clampdown on expenditures.
This clampdown includes a 90-day delay in ordering new supplies except for emergencies, a hiring and contract freeze, and a halt to all international air travel as the agency tries to adapt to the US funding freeze, the Guardian's report revealed.
According to the latest figures for 2024, the US provided £2 billion ($2.49 billion) in funding to the UNHCR — a fifth of the agency’s total budget.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern about the aid freeze by the United States, the world's largest provider of development assistance in absolute dollar terms.
Flimsy excuse
In a bizarre justification, the White House defended the sweeping freeze on US overseas assistance by citing a $50 million condom distribution programme in the Gaza Strip without offering evidence to back up the claim.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the expenditure was discovered in Trump's first week by the new Department of Government Efficiency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Musk's initiative and the budget office "found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza," Leavitt told her debut press conference.
"That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money," she said.
Leavitt also said that the United States was about to dispense $37 million to the World Health Organization before Trump announced a pullout from the UN body.
Grappling with aid shutdown globally
The United States is by far the world's largest source of foreign assistance, although other countries give a bigger share of their budgets. It provides four out of every 10 dollars donated for humanitarian aid.
“The aid community is grappling with just how existential this aid suspension is," Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, told AP.
The Trump administration placed more than 50 senior officials with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on leave Monday as many were helping organizations deal with the freeze. USAID's acting head said he was investigating whether the officials resisted Trump's orders.
Mortal risk
Current and former USAID officials warned that the stop-work orders that have gone out worldwide could put millions at mortal risk, especially if coupled with a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or flood.
“If there’s a tropical cyclone that hits Cox’s Bazar tomorrow, then how are you going to save all those people, and then how are you going to rebuild if there’s a stop-work order?” a former senior USAid official told the Guardian, referring to the city in Bangladesh where more than one million Rohingya refugees are living. “You could have people sitting there for 90 days and sitting and waiting for what? That’s what worries more.”
The US State Department on Tuesday said that it would be investigating “egregious funding” that included $102,236,000 to fund the International Medical Corps in Gaza, $16,840,876 to fund institutional contractors in the gender development office, and $612,000 to fund technical assistance for family planning in Latin America.
A ‘death sentence’ for some!
In the southern African nation of Zimbabwe, Gumisayi Bonzo, director of a health nonprofit, worried about her organization — and herself.
Zimbabwe is one of the few African countries to achieve a milestone in HIV/AIDS diagnosis, treatment, and suppression of viral load. That is thanks in large part to a groundbreaking HIV programme created by Republican President George W. Bush, credited with saving more than 20 million lives.
“Everyone is just confused right now,” Bonzo told AP.
The 54-year-old has been taking HIV treatment for 23 years thanks to PEPFAR support that made medication affordable.
“That’s a death sentence for many people,” she said.
Some call it a ‘cruel’ cutoff!
Gyude Moore, a fellow at the US-based Centre for Global Development, said the US freeze would hurt lives around Africa.
US support helped West Africa recover from years of vicious wars. Money from USAID helped pay for school lunches, support girls' education, strengthen health systems, and help small farmers.
As many colleagues did, Moore called the sudden cutoff “cruel.”
“There is no wiggle room,” he told AP.
“Feeding hungry children in Liberia or malnourished children in Kenya, providing life-saving anti-retroviral drugs in Uganda — none of these things undermine American interests,” Moore said.
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