The state department said on Wednesday that the United States dramatically cut the budget of foreign development and assistance programs, with a decline of 92 percent or $ 54 billion in multi-year contracts.
On its first day at the office, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding a freeze on all US foreign aid for 90 days. The purpose of this break is to allow the administration to review foreign expenses with an eye for the programs not aligned with Trump’s “America First” agenda.
The vast majority ended during its course, targeting multi-year-old foreign aid contracts provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
“At the conclusion of a process led by the USAID leadership, in which about 5,800 prizes, including individually reviewed installments by Secretary (Marco) Rubio, were identified to terminate as part of the US First Agenda to remain at a price of $ 54 billion – 92 percent deficiency,” a statement said in a statement.
The review also saw over 9,100 grants, including foreign aid, priced more than $ 15.9 billion.
At the conclusion of the review, a target was to abolish 4,100 grants of about 4.4 billion dollars, decreasing by 28 percent.
The State Department’s statement said, “These comments eliminations will allow the bureau with their contracts and grant officers, to focus on the remaining programs, additional capacity and later tailor programs discovered more closely for the first priorities of the US.”
The spokesperson said that the programs were not cut, including life-saving medical treatment for diseases like food aid, HIV and malaria and support for countries including Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Lebanon.
On Tuesday, a federal judge gave the Trump administration for all assistance in less than two days, ignoring the court order issued about two weeks ago.
According to US media reports, the Trump administration filed a petition to hold a hold on the court’s order given by Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court late Wednesday night.
The USAID, created after a bill passed by the Congress in 1961, had a workforce of more than 10,000 employees before the freeze, which provoked shock and disappointment among the personnel.
The agency announced on 23 February that it was closing 1,600 employees in the United States and keeping the remaining employees on administrative leave.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to reduce the expenses and bureaucracy of the federal government, a task he gave as part of his top donor and close advisor, billionaire Elon Musk as part of the newly constructed Government Efficiency Department (DOGE).
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