The guidance, issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was sent to all diplomatic and consular posts, and orders all department staffers to issue "stop-work orders" on nearly all "existing foreign assistance awards."
It appears to go further than President Donald Trump's recent executive order, which instructed the department to pause foreign aid grants for 90 days pending review by the secretary. It had not been clear from the president's order if it would affect already appropriated funds or Ukraine aid.Rubio also outlined the Trump administration's stance on spending, saying
The new guidance means no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the U.S. government, according to three current and two former officials familiar with the new guidance.
- Politico
"Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does the action make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous?The new order reportedly shocked State Department officials. "State just totally went nuclear on foreign assistance," a State Department official told Politico.
Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the Senate the day before and is the first of Trump's Cabinet nominees on the job. Previously, he was a senior senator from Florida, and he served on the Foreign Relations Committee for more than a decade. He developed a reputation as a China Hawk and a fierce critic of the neoliberal foreign policy consensus that emerged after the Cold War.
Shortly after taking the oath of office, he sent a lengthy cable to every US diplomatic and consular post worldwide letting them know that the Biden administration had mistakenly emphasized "ideology over common sense," and "misread the world."
You'll Never Guess Who Still Gets Aid...
The document specifies that Israel and Egypt will continue to receive that sweet, sweet US taxpayer money. It also allows emergency food assistance and "legitimate expenses incurred prior to the date of this" guidance "under existing awards," and also that decisions need to be "consistent with the terms of the relevant award."
One State Department official as well as two former Biden admin officials told Politico that the pause appears to stop aid to Ukraine, Jordan and Taiwan, while the report suggests that the guidance could open the US government to civil liability from lawsuits over unfulfilled contracts if the terms are deemed to have been violated, said the current and former officials. That said, the note from Rubio clearly states that decision need to be "consistent with the terms of the relevant award."
Reader Comments
However the rest is not. Quote: " The new guidance means no further actions will be taken to disperse aid funding to programs already approved by the U.S. government".
Why? This is money laundering. There is no transparency. It funds corruption and "terrorists".
Everything depends on funding. Stop the money.
I t is established and acknowledged fact that at most 30 per cent of this "aid" shows up in the Ukrainian society and the battle front. The "Ukraine aid" is a large-scale grift of the (former) administration and MIC to funnel tax payer money into their backers' companies and their own coffers.
And the latter quite literally. There are several reports out there describing that the most important purpose of all the personal visits of US or EU political figures in Kiev was to grab the suitcase of cash prepared form them. The 10 per cents for the big guys ...