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United States has finally initiated a cut in its budget for foreign development and aid programmes, significantly slashing the multi-year contracts by 92 percent or $54 billion.
With the cut, about 5,800 identified foreign aid contracts have been gutted by the government.
The cut in the US’ foreign aid programs comes as the new administration of Donald Trump seeks to save as much as $60 billion from development and foreign humanitarian assistance.
Trump had signed an executive order on assumption of office, demanding a 90-day freeze on all US foreign aid to give his administration time to review overseas spending, with a view to gutting programs not aligned with his “America First” agenda.
A federal judge had on Tuesday given the Trump administration less than two days to unfreeze all aid after a previous court order issued nearly two weeks earlier went ignored.
But the Trump administration filed an emergency petition to the US Supreme Court, which issued an administrative stay late Wednesday, pausing the lower court’s order.
“At the conclusion of a process led by USAID leadership, including tranches personally reviewed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, nearly 5,800 awards with $54 billion in value remaining were identified for elimination as part of the America First agenda, a 92 percent reduction,” US State Department said in a statement.
The administration’s review in part targeted multi-year foreign assistance contracts awarded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with the vast majority eliminated during its course.
It also looked at more than 9,100 grants involving foreign assistance, valued at more than $15.9 billion.
Following the review, 4,100 grants worth almost $4.4 billion were targeted to be eliminated, an 28 percent reduction.
“These commonsense eliminations will allow the bureaus, along with their contracting and grants officers, to focus on remaining programs, find additional efficiencies and tailor subsequent programs more closely to the administration’s America First priorities,” the State Department statement said.
USAID distributes US humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in around 120 countries.
Programs that were not cut included food assistance, life-saving medical treatments for diseases like HIV and malaria, and support for countries including Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Lebanon, among others, the State Department spokesperson said.
Late Wednesday, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued the administrative stay, which grants the Trump administration temporary reprieve from having to unfreeze around $2 billion in payments for overdue foreign aid.
The decision also gives the court more time to consider the matter.
