U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 28 issued a waiver for some humanitarian aid, exempting it from President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on foreign assistance.
Rubio, in an internal memorandum, said that life-saving aid is still going to be funded. He defined life-saving humanitarian assistance as core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, subsistence assistance, supplies, and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance.
“This waiver does not apply to activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences, administrative costs … gender or DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance,” Rubio said.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
Shortly after taking office, Trump suspended U.S. foreign aid for 90 days over concerns that the government’s foreign policy was “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.”
The pause is in place pending reviews of foreign aid to ensure funding is going to programs aligned with the president’s foreign policy, according to Trump’s executive order.
The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally. In fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in assistance.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said after the order was signed that Rubio had initiated a review of all foreign assistance programs to ensure they’re efficient and consistent with Trump’s foreign policy.
“President Trump stated clearly that the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people,” Bruce said.
“Reviewing and realigning foreign assistance on behalf of hardworking taxpayers is not just the right thing to do, it is a moral imperative. The Secretary is proud to protect America’s investment with a deliberate and judicious review of how we spend foreign assistance dollars overseas.”
Rubio has said that it’s important to examine the funding to ensure it makes America safer, stronger, or more prosperous.
A previous State Department memo informed staffers that the pause meant a “complete halt” on foreign aid, with exceptions for emergency humanitarian food assistance and officials returning to their duty stations.
A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a Jan. 27 statement that the secretary-general had urged the U.S. government to consider additional exemptions “to ensure the continued delivery of critical development and humanitarian activities for the most vulnerable communities around the world, whose lives and livelihoods depend on this support.”
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