President Trump on Monday signed an executive order suspending new U.S. foreign development assistance for three months and directing a review of foreign aid programs to ensure they are consistent with America First foreign policy.
The defunding order is based on an executive order directing the State Department to implement an “America First foreign policy,” but the details of that policy are not specified.
President Trump is directing the heads of agencies responsible for U.S. foreign development assistance programs to immediately suspend new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries. Non-governmental organizations, international organizations or contractors.
The president has called for a review of these programs for “programmatic efficiency” to determine whether they are consistent with U.S. foreign policy. The Office of Management and Budget will “enforce this moratorium,” the executive order states.
The executive order includes the Secretary of State waiving regulations for “certain programs.”
It also allows funding to be resumed sooner than 90 days if a review is conducted and the Secretary of State or his/her designee, in consultation with the OMB Director, determines to continue the program in the same or modified form. It will be done. .
The measure would infringe on the Legislature's control over spending and could cause friction in Congress.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Monday, affirmed Congress' “power of the purse” in spending.
“The power of the purse is still in Congress. Maybe if it's confirmed, it'll go to the executive branch, but I think I'll forget that lesson a little bit,” he joked during his confirmation hearing. He said this. But ultimately, the power of the purse rests with Congress, and I still recognize and understand that that is a very important power. ”
At the same time, some in Congress have criticized the way foreign aid is distributed.
For example, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) has set his sights on U.S. aid. He criticized the United States' funding of an NGO program in Ecuador that had drag performers read stories, as well as the discovery of funding for an atheist group in Nepal.
Republicans were outraged last week when they learned that nurses in Mozambique receiving funding through PEPFAR, Africa's AIDS control program, had performed an estimated 21 abortions in violation of the program's federal laws.
