Rubio says State Department will exempt select USAID programs from freeze

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 6, 2025 / 17:55 pm (CNA).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said the State Department is currently determining which foreign aid programs will be granted exemptions from the Trump administration’s plans to freeze spending at USAID.

Rubio, at a press conference in Guatemala, said the State Department is now working “to identify which programs should be specifically designated and therefore exempted” from President Donald Trump’s funding freeze and stop-work orders. 

The secretary of state also said the State Department has reached out to USAID officials to help determine these exemptions.

The Trump administration announced on Monday that all USAID employees would be put on leave and global personnel would be recalled in light of Trump’s executive order, which put a 90-day freeze on most foreign funding last month. The order, which Trump signed directly after his inauguration, gives Rubio the power to “waive the pause for specific programs.”

Rubio while on a five-day trip in South America clarified during the conference that funding “will not continue” for programs that do not further U.S. interests.

According to an Associated Press report, after Trump issued the order, Rubio exempted emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt. On Tuesday AP reported that he agreed to continue spending funds on “humanitarian programs that provide life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance.”

CBS News reported that in a private meeting on Wednesday, Rubio told U.S. diplomats in Guatemala that the United States plans to continue distributing foreign aid but the government needs to be able to defend what initiatives it is funding abroad.

“The United States is not walking away from foreign aid. It’s not. We’re going to continue to provide foreign aid and to be involved in programs, but it has to be programs that we can defend,” Rubio also said to a gathering of staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, according to a partial transcript obtained by CBS News on Wednesday.

“It has to be programs that we can explain. It has to be programs that we can justify. Otherwise, we do endanger foreign aid,” he added.

During a press conference last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt listed some of the initiatives funded by USAID, which she called “insane priorities.” The list included $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workforce, $70,000 for a “DEI musical” in Ireland, $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia, and $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru.

A White House fact sheet also lists $2 million to fund “sex changes” and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala, as well as an undesignated amount of funding for the production of 3D-printed contraceptives.

“I don’t know about you but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap, and I know the American people don’t either,” Leavitt added.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), along with Catholic Relief Services, the USCCB’s charitable arm, has spoken out against the foreign funding freeze, releasing an action alert urging Catholics to contact their elected officials.

“Your help is urgently needed! Let your members of Congress know that you are deeply concerned about the administration’s recent decision to stop work on almost all U.S. foreign assistance programs,” the alert read, continuing: “This freeze will be detrimental to millions of our sisters and brothers who need access to lifesaving humanitarian, health, and development assistance.”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262061/rubio-says-state-department-will-exempt-select-usaid-programs-from-freeze