Rubio halts foreign aid grants for 90 days – Ukraine funding appears to be impacted

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday issued a 90-day moratorium on most foreign aid spending, including to Ukraine, prompting celebration from conservatives.

Issued to all diplomatic and consular posts, Rubio’s order requires staffers to issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards,” according to a document reviewed by Politico.

The stop orders are to remain in place until each foreign aid program is reviewed to ensure it complies with President Donald Trump’s strenuous policy demands.

There is a slight catch.

“[The order] specifies that foreign military financing for Egypt and Israel will continue and allows emergency food assistance and ‘legitimate expenses incurred prior to the date of this’ guidance ‘under existing awards,'” according to Politico.

Rubio also reportedly ordered that any future foreign aid disbursements go through him first. The secretary of state’s order is essentially a continuation and extension of an executive order that President Trump signed Monday.

According to station WMAQ, the original order pauses “all U.S. foreign development aid pending reviews of ‘efficiencies and consistency’ with administration aims, to be conducted within 90 days by relevant agency heads.”

The freeze will also affect some medical programs.

“A globally acclaimed anti-HIV program, the President’s Emergency Relief Plan for AIDS Relief, was among those included in the spending freeze, slated to last at least three months,” as noted by Time magazine.

Leftists aren’t happy about any of this.

Suspending funding “could have life or death consequences” for children and families across the globe, Oxam America head Abby Maxman said.

“By suspending foreign development assistance, the Trump administration is threatening the lives and futures of communities in crisis, and abandoning the United States’ long-held bipartisan approach to foreign assistance which supports people based on need, regardless of politics,” she said in a statement.

Conservatives, meanwhile, are thrilled:

Regarding the Ukraine War, Trump has begun urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to finally “make a deal.”

“I’m not looking to hurt Russia,” he wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. “I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin – and this despite the Radical Left’s Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX. We must never forget that Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process. All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR.”

“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.’ NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!” he added.

Trump had long promised to end the war if he won the presidency again. With the funding spigot now turned off, it seems Ukraine has no other option anymore but to go along with a peace deal …

Vivek Saxena

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