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Donald Trump administration to cut 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts
The Trump administration, after a through review, has decided to slash as many as 5,800 aid contracts valued at $54 billion, shows an internal document.
In a big move after freezing the US Agency for International Development (USAID) fundings, the Donald Trump administration has now decided to slash over 90% of the agency’s foreign aid contracts, reported The Washington Free Beacon.
The cuts, which were detailed in a document accessed by the WFB, were decided upon after the US State Department finished its review of the US foreign aid. As many as 15,000 contracts worth a whopping 60 billion dollars have been identified to be eliminated. This includes both - the foreign aid provided by the US State Department and the USAID.
Within the US State Department, around 4,100 foreign aid grants worth 4.4 billion dollars have been identified to be eliminated. Among the USAID grants, the Trump administration has decided to slash as many as 5,800 aid contracts valued at $54 billion, which accounts for 92 per cent of the agency’s multi-year grant spending, the report added citing the memo.
The USAID grants which will continue to exist are for some lawyers to aid them in ongoing court battles, news agency Associated Press (AP) reported citing the same memo.
Court deadline
The Trump administration’s move comes after it blocked the foreign aid for 90 days in order to review it and see whether such grants align with the administration’s US-first policy. However, a US federal judge had asked the administration to unfreeze the blocked payments to several foreign aid groups by Wednesday night.
With the looming deadline, the Trump administration “moved rapidly” to review all the US foreign aid contracts through the state department and the USAID so that they can be eliminated, said the memo according to the AP report.
The Trump administration, with this move, aims not just to slash the US taxpayers’ money going outside the country but also to see and control whether such aid helps the country in any way.
According to the memo, the State Department said it will “reform the way the United States delivers foreign assistance” after "decades of institutional drift”, the WFB reported.
“Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safe? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?" the memo added.
