State Department issues immediate, widespread pause on foreign aid

The “stop-work orders” appear to apply to US aid for all countries except Israel and Egypt.

By Robbie Gramer, Nahal Toosi and Eric Bazail-Eimil

01/24/2025

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/24/state-department-foreign-aid-pause-00200510

Secretary of State Marco Rubio halted spending Friday on most existing foreign aid grants for 90 days. The order, which shocked State Department officials, appears to apply to funding for military assistance to Ukraine.

Rubio’s guidance, issued to all diplomatic and consular posts, requires department staffers to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards,” according to the document, which was obtained by POLITICO. It is effective immediately.

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.

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.

The order shocked some department officials for its sweeping mandate. “State just totally went nuclear on foreign assistance,” said another State Department official.

Still, the document leaves room for interpretation and does provide some exceptions. It specifies that foreign military financing for Egypt and Israel will continue and allows emergency food assistance and “legitimate expenses incurred prior to the date of this” guidance “under existing awards.” At points, it also says the decisions need to be “consistent with the terms of the relevant award.”

One current State Department official, plus two former Biden administration officials, said the pause appears to stop aid to key allies such as Ukraine, Jordan and Taiwan. They, and others, were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal government documents.

The guidance could open the U.S. government up to civil liability as lawsuits could be filed over unfulfilled contracts if the terms are deemed to have been violated, the current and former officials said, although at points it says the decisions need to be “consistent with the terms of the relevant award.”

The guidance states that “decisions whether to continue, modify or terminate programs will be made following the review” from the secretary.

A State Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Devex earlier reported on the directive.

The omission of Ukraine is particularly troubling to American officials who want to help it defeat Russia.

Trump and Republicans have for years homed in on what they described as wasteful foreign aid spending under the Obama and Biden administrations. But in recent days, Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric toward Russia, threatening Moscow with sanctions if it does not end its nearly three-year invasion of Ukraine and declaring that Putin bears responsibility for ending the war.

Ukraine’s government has yet to respond to the move. But boosters of Kyiv are voicing hope the pause won’t set back Ukraine’s war effort.

“We’re working to understand what this means for Ukraine. We’re confident that the administration isn’t going to let America fall for Putin’s scare tactics,” said Mykola Murskyj of Razom, a U.S.-based group that advocates for Ukraine.

People working in global health are alarmed about the impact of the order on programs such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which funds testing and treatment for people living with HIV, mostly in Africa. The program has received about $5 billion in funding annually, in recent years.

“This stop-work order is cruel and deadly,” said Asia Russell, the executive director of Health GAP, a nonprofit which advocates for access to treatment in people with HIV.

The guidance was cleared by a litany of top State Department staffers, including State Department counselor Michael Needham and policy planning director Michael Anton.

The State Department is expected to prepare a report within 85 days of the guidance being issued, which will then accompany a recommendation from Rubio to Trump about which foreign assistance programs to continue and which to discontinue.

Carmen Paun contributed to this report.