Trump administration cancels 90% of USAID grants
27 February 10:37
The administration of US President Donald Trump is cutting off more than 90% of aid to foreign countries from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). This is reported by Komersant ukrainskyi with reference to CNN.
“In total, about 5,800 USAID grants have been terminated and more than 500 USAID grants have been withheld. The total maximum value of the withheld grants is approximately $57 billion,” the Trump administration said in a statement.
The document also says that in addition to the termination of USAID grants, about 4,100 state grants were terminated and about 2,700 state grants were retained.
There are still 297 contracts that need to be reviewed, Trump said.
A significant reduction in foreign aid is hitting the work of nonprofit organizations and contractors. Assistance programs around the world have been suspended due to a complete funding freeze and billions of dollars in aid being reviewed.
This comes at a time when the Trump administration has furloughed or laid off most USAID employees.
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The updates from the Trump administration were filed in response to a lawsuit challenging the blanket suspension of foreign aid.
According to the statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday “made a final decision on each grant on an individual basis, affirmatively determining either to maintain the grant or to terminate it in accordance with the terms of the instrument or independent legal authority as inconsistent with the national interest and foreign policy of the United States.”
On Wednesday, however, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit rejected the claim that Rubio personally reviewed all grant termination decisions, arguing that “it would be impossible for one person or even a group of people to substantially review all of these contracts and grants in such a short period of time.”
Democrats seek to stop USAID liquidation through legislation
A group of House Democrats has introduced legislation to prevent the Trump administration from liquidating the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to THE HILL, this document is called the “US National Security Protection Act”. It aims to prove that the USAID reform must comply with the law and “not harm American soft power.”
on January 20, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign aid programs for 90 days. As noted, this was done in order to check whether these programs are in line with the foreign policy interests of the President of the United States.
As a reminder, the Administration of US President Donald Trump has released a brief report on abuses at the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
