Foreign aid frozen
Foreign aid to practically everyone is sitting in limbo. On Friday, January 24, freshly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio froze “nearly all foreign assistance worldwide, effective immediately.”
President Donald Trump set the wheels in motion the previous Monday, with a “sweeping executive order” slapping down a 90 day hold. “Decisions whether to continue, modify, or terminate programs will be made following this review.”
CNN got a look at the cable sent to “all U.S. diplomatic posts.” It outlines the policy, “which threatens billions of dollars of funding from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development for programs worldwide.”
USAID called their parent organization, the United Nations, in horror. No matter how loudly they complained about their aid being cut, they were told “sorry, there’s nothing we can do.”
Foreign aid has been a Republican target for years, but there wasn’t much they could do to get a handle on it with Democrats running the show. Things are a whole lot different now. Republicans control both the House and Senate. “The scope of the executive order and subsequent cable has left humanitarian and State Department officials reeling.”
As Rubio announced in a public statement, “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”
Stop work now
The cable signed by Secretary Rubio “calls for immediate ‘stop work‘ orders on existing foreign assistance and pauses new aid.” Democrats are stunned by the “sweeping” scope of the order.
“Essentially all foreign assistance appears to have been targeted unless specifically exempted.” There are two nations which have been granted waivers. Israel and Egypt. “It’s a global freak out at the moment,” one humanitarian official relates.
Bleeding heart progressives are shell shocked to learn that “lifesaving global health aid, development assistance, military aid, and even clean water distribution could all be affected.”
How can mean and nasty President Trump force third world countries to pay their own bills? That might actually force them to clean up their own internal corruption. What could the New World Order do then?
Secretary Rubio’s cable spelled out that the only cash flowing is “for emergency food assistance and foreign military financing for Israel and Egypt.”
Liberal media notes that “the cable does not specifically mention any other countries that receive foreign military financing, like Ukraine or Taiwan, as being exempt from the freeze.” Which means their aid money is frozen, too.
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