INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Donald Trump&s administration on Tuesday moved to reinstate at least six recently canceled United States foreign aid programs for
emergency food assistance, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The quick reversal of decisions made just days ago underscored
the rapid-fire nature of Trump&s cuts to foreign aid
That has led to programs being cut, restored then cut again, disrupting international humanitarian operations.
USAID Acting Deputy
Administrator Jeremy Lewin, who has previously been identified as a member of billionaire Elon Musk&s Department of Government Efficiency,
asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations.
He asked to restore awards to the World Food Programme in Lebanon, Syria,
Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, five sources familiar with the matter said.
The administration has also resumed four awards to the
International Organization for Migration in the Pacific region, two sources familiar with the matter said.
&Sorry for all the back and forth
on awards,& Lewin said on Tuesday in the internal email seen by Reuters
&There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that&s my fault and I take
responsibility,& he added.
Reuters reported on Monday that the Trump administration had ended life-saving aid programs for more than a dozen
countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totaling over $1.3 billion.
According to Stand Up For Aid, an advocacy group of
current and former United States officials, WFP contracts canceled on Lewin&s orders last weekend for Lebanon, Syria, Somalia and Jordan
totaled more than $463 million.
Many of the terminated programs had been granted waivers by United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio
following an initial round of cuts to foreign aid programs
The State Department said those did not reflect a final decision.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment
about restoring the awards.
The decision to restore some aid followed pressure from inside the administration and from Congress, two sources
said.
The World Food Programme said on Monday that the United States notified the organization it was eliminating emergency food assistance
funding in 14 countries, warning: &If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and
starvation.&
The United States did not restore aid to Islamic Emirate-ruled Afghanistan and to Yemen, most of which is controlled by
Islamist militants of the Iran-backed Houthi movement
Washington has been the largest aid donor to both countries, which have suffered years of devastating war.
State Department spokesperson
Tammy Bruce on Tuesday told reporters that the United States had concerns that WFP funding for Yemen and Afghanistan was benefiting the
Houthis and the Islamic Emirate.
&There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut that have been
rolled back and put into place,& Bruce said, adding that the administration remains committed to foreign aid.
Among the cuts over the
weekend were $169.8 million for the WFP in Somalia, covering food assistance, nutrition for malnourished babies and children and
In Syria, $111 million was cut from WFP food assistance.
The cuts have been the latest piece of the Trump administration&s drive to
dismantle USAID, the main United States humanitarian aid agency.
The administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid since
the Republican president began his second term on January 20 in an overhaul that officials described as marked by chaos and
confusion.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats on Tuesday wrote a letter to Rubio regarding plans to restructure the State
Department, including by folding in USAID, which they said was &unconstitutional, illegal, unjustified, damaging, and inefficient.&
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Trump administration moves to restore some terminated foreign aid programs, sources say first appeared on TINS News.
