Rubio issues humanitarian waiver for Trump's foreign aid freeze, WP reports

U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio has backtracked on a near-total freeze of U.S. foreign aid, issuing a waiver for “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” the Washington Post (WP) reported on. Jan 28 citing memos sent to aid organizations.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his inauguration day suspending foreign aid programs for 90 days so they can be reviewed to ensure they align with “American interests” and “American values."

In Ukraine, the organizations affected provide a huge range of humanitarian services, including counseling, organizing cultural events, and providing basic services, often to some of the most vulnerable segments of society.

In the memo seen by WP, Rubio issues a waiver for work he defined as “core life saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance."

Those not covered by the waiver include “abortions, family planning conferences… transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance."

“Implementers of existing life saving humanitarian assistance programs should continue or resume work if they have stopped,” the memo added.

WP reported that many programs funded by the U.S.’s roughly $60 billion foreign aid budget were left confused as to whether or not they qualified for the waiver.

Elsewhere, President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered a report on U.S.-funded projects in Ukraine affected the freeze on foreign assistance, he said during his evening address on Jan. 28.

“I instructed government officials to provide a report on those American support programmes that are currently suspended,” Zelensky said.

“We can provide part of this funding through our state finances, and we will discuss some of them with Europeans and Americans,” he added, saying that programs concerning Ukrainian children, veterans and protecting infrastructure would be prioritized.

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The Kyiv IndependentChris York