Scoop: US foreign aid review officially begins — after many awards cut

The U.S. State Department has begun its official 90-day review of USAID’s programs — though hundreds of awards have already been terminated by the agency. That’s according to several different sources who attended a State Department “listening session” on Thursday, which was led by the director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, Peter Marocco. Marocco told the group — a collection of USAID implementing partners, government representatives, and think tanks — that the awards already terminated had been cancelled to align with President Donald Trump’s executive order on diversity, equity, and inclusion because they were “illegal,” or because they had no real value. It’s not clear what sort of review process those awards went through, as the State Department did not respond to comment for this story. Terminated projects include the bulk of USAID’s democracy, governance, and human rights work; private sector mobilization programs; and global health initiatives across the world. “Foreign aid has failed,” Marocco told attendees, adding that was because the president and the American people weren’t convinced of its merits. After the group recited the pledge of allegiance, the State Department team said they wanted to bridge the gap for “moms in Bible study, McDonald’s workers, and grad students in the Bronx,” according to several sources’ notes of the session. The meeting is the first of two this week, both of which are being held nearly four weeks after Trump announced a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance. At the time, Trump stated that funds would be frozen “pending reviews of such programs for programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy.” And this week and last, organizations receiving termination awards were told their programs had failed that test. On Thursday, the State Department team said they were in the “information-gathering stage” of the review process. The scope far expands beyond USAID, with the team planning to assess any agency that provides or spends taxpayer funds overseas — from the Millennium Challenge Corporation to the Postal Service. By the end of next week, they plan to create metrics to assess foreign aid programs, which implementing partners will have 30 days to respond to. Marocco’s team will assess programs in March, and by April 19 — the last day of the foreign aid freeze — the formal review will be complete. Adva Saldinger contributed reporting to this story.