Rubio says US identifying USAid programmes to be exempted from shutdown

GUATEMALA CITY/WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Feb 5 the Trump administration was reaching out to

US Agency for International Development (USAid)

missions overseas to identify and designate programmes that will be exempted from the sweeping stop-work orders.

Late on Feb 3, the administration said it would put on leave all directly hired employees of USAid globally and recall thousands of personnel working overseas, after US President Donald Trump ordered a broad freeze on most US foreign aid in January.

Mr Trump and his aides say they want to ensure that billions of dollars in US assistance, including humanitarian aid distributed around the world, is aligned with his America First policy. He tasked billionaire Elon Musk, who has

accused USAid of being a criminal organisation without providing evidence, with scaling down the agency

.

Since Mr Trump’s freeze on Jan 20, stop-work orders halted much of the agency’s aid worldwide and hundreds of contractors were laid off. But the announcement on Feb 3 listed some exceptions that included “specially designated programmes”.

“That language is deliberate, because we are now going to have to work... to identify which programmes should be specifically designated and therefore exempted from that order,” Mr Rubio told a press conference in Guatemala City.

The criteria for exemptions will be whether or not a programme furthers US national interests and is aligned with them. “And those that do not will not continue,” Mr Rubio added.

He repeated his accusation that USAid staff were not cooperating with the administration’s efforts to find out more about the programmes, but said that State Department staff working on similar programmes were providing insight to the administration.

“At the State Department... we got a really good insight, and that’s why, every single day, we are issuing waivers on the State Department programmes,” Mr Rubio said. He did not detail what those waivers were.

Emergency food assistance was not included in the broad freeze of foreign aid. Mr Rubio on Jan 28 issued an additional waiver for life-saving assistance and laid out criteria for what would qualify.

But the lack of detail in Mr Trump’s order and the ensuing waivers have left aid groups confused as to whether their work can continue.

On Feb 5, Reuters reported that the US has stopped purchases for foreign food aid programmes despite a waiver for food assistance.

The freeze in purchases of wheat, soybeans and other commodities produced by US farmers could hinder or halt the operations of organisations that provide millions of tonnes of food each year to help alleviate poverty in countries such as Madagascar, Tanzania and Honduras, the sources said. REUTERS