President Donald Trump has suspended dozens of government officials before trying to bypass his executive order when freezing all foreign aid.
Dozens of career -government officials of the US Agency for International Development were placed on Monday. An employee of the agency told the Wall Street Journal that 57 people were affected.
“We have identified various actions within USAID that seem to have been designed to bypass the executive orders of the president and the mandate of the American people,” said the newly installed acting manager, Jason Gray, in an e -mail obtained by the Washington Mail.
“As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees with full wage and benefits until further notice.”
President Donald Trump, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt of the White House, on Air Force One
Trump declared the State Department and the US AID 'Do not offer foreign help' until an assessment of the high -level programs is completed, except for Israel and Egypt and in serious cases where food is needed.
The 90-day break is to ensure that all programs are in accordance with Trump's 'America First' policy and the administration threatened 'disciplinary action' for every personnel ignoring the orders.
The US has an annual annual budget of $ 60 billion annually foreign aid and is the world's number 1 provider of humanitarian aid.
On Saturday, State Secretary Marco Rubio issued a 'stop-work' order, which means that non-governmental organizations or charity groups had to stop using an American Financing that they have already received, while the programs were assessed.
That influences everything, from vaccine programs in children to training for the fight against terrorism.
It has stopped a program to combat HIV worldwide that is credited for saving around 25 million lives, stopped stocks at a refugee camp of 40,000 people in Syria and damages Sunger -Red Sudan, where at least 24.6 million people need food aid urgently .
And it stopped military aid to Ukraine, Jordan and Taiwan.
Trump's order freezes help from HIV clinics in Africa -as shown above in South Africa
The freezing also influences funds for Syrian refugees
Humanitarian groups have flooded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Wavier requests, which claims that financing is crucial and that lives can be lost.
But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that the three -month break is needed, so that the agency can ensure that the programs for foreign assistance are efficient and support Trump's 'America First Agenda'.
Reviews must go through two layers of control: one of USAID leadership and another by Rubio.
'Any exemption must be thoroughly justified to show that the specific help for which the exemption is requested is necessary for life -saving purposes cannot be performed by the current US staff Direct Hire, or would otherwise be a significant risks for national security Forms, “a memo obtained by said Reuters.
All foreign utility programs will undergo 'extensive assessment' during the expenditure break, says the memo. 'It is important to emphasize that it is no longer businesslike as usual. Each program will be thoroughly investigated. '
