The new U.S. administration is just a week old, but it’s already making waves by targeting some beloved institutions. One of the latest casualties? Lifesaving overseas aid. Last Friday, Peter Marocco, the newly appointed head of the Office of Foreign Assistance, sent out a memo (see here) announcing an immediate halt on all new spending. … [Read more…]
Trump Administration Goes After Senior USAID Officials Following Aid Freeze
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has put on leave about 60 senior career officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), sources familiar with the matter said, after Washington put a sweeping freeze on U.S. aid worldwide. The administration on Saturday urged USAID staff to help transform how Washington allocates aid … [Read more…]
STOP WORK/SUSPENSION UPDATE (January 28, 2025)- USAID’s Implementation of the Funding Pause for Foreign Assistance Programs
Dear USAID Implementing Partners, In accordance with the President’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, OMB Memorandum M-25-13 (“Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs”), direction from the Department of State, and the previously issued Notice on Implementation of Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States … [Read more…]
ALERT – OMB Memorandum M-25-13 (“Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs”)
On January 27, 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) released a memorandum regarding “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs” (OMB Memorandum M-25-13; hereinafter the “OMB Memo”)). The OMB Memo directs Federal agencies, inter alia, to: (1) identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs consistent with President Trump’s recent policies … [Read more…]
Nonprofits, Public Health Leaders, Small Businesses File Suit to Block OMB Attempt to Halt Essential Services
A coalition of organizations filed a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the White House Office of Management and Budget from pausing all agency grants and loans, as revealed in a memo issued January 27, 2025. Plaintiffs, represented in the legal challenge by Democracy Forward, include … [Read more…]
U.S Foreign assistance makes up less than 1 percent of the US federal budget
Seventy-five years of U.S. foreign assistance has produced more fiction than fact when it comes to how American tax dollars are being spent around the world. In the interest of providing taxpayers with information about the value of their federal investment in this regard, it might be helpful to look at some of the top … [Read more…]
WEBINAR – LIVE TODAY (JANUARY 27, 2025): Breaking down the foreign aid freeze
About the event A new State Department directive halts all new foreign aid spending and orders stop-work on existing USAID grants and contracts. This sudden move is already raising urgent questions across the aid sector. What does this mean for USAID implementers? How should contractors and grantees respond? Join Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar and top … [Read more…]
USAID Letter – Notice on Implementation of Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid
In accordance with the President’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid and additional direction provided by the Department of State, USAID is pausing all new obligations of funding, and sub-obligations of funding under Development Objective Agreements (DOAGs), pending a review of foreign assistance programs funded by USAID. For the purposes of … [Read more…]
US Aid Freeze: US Implementers Need to Regroup and Challenge the Stop Work Orders
The funds were approved by Congress, and under the Impoundment Control Act, the president doesn’t have the authority to refuse their disbursement. There are ways to conduct audits without jeopardizing the many Americans involved in these projects. In the U.S. alone, a whole section of work, including those employed by USAID, represents a significant workforce. … [Read more…]
Trump threatens ‘disciplinary action’ for USAID staff ignoring foreign aid freeze
Memo offers further guidance to ‘stop-work’ directive and how to achieve Trump’s America first policy (see below) ———————— Date/DTG:Jan 24, 2025 / 241600Z JAN 25From:SECSTATE WASHDC Action: ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS COLLECTIVE Immediate E.O: 13526 TAGS: PREL, AID, EAID Subject: Executive Order on Review of Foreign Assistance Programs 1. (U) Consistent with the President’s … [Read more…]