US lawmakers urge Secretary of State Marco Rubio to unfreeze aid

Two top Democrats on congressional committees overseeing U.S. foreign aid spending expressed "deep concern over the lives placed at risk because of the Administration’s freeze on foreign assistance funding."

By Michael Igoe // 24 January 2025

The top Democrats on two congressional committees overseeing U.S. foreign aid spending wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday urging him to resume funding for ongoing U.S. foreign assistance programs. Their letter comes in the wake of a cable from the State Department — first reported by Devex — that orders both new and current foreign aid programs to grind to a halt. That guidance builds on U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order on “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” issued on his first day in office. The direction “to block all funding obligations and stop work on existing programs has immediate detrimental impacts, including possible closure of implementing partner organizations needed to carry out this work,” wrote Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Lois Frankel, a Democrat from Florida and ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs. The freeze on funding “undermines American leadership and credibility around the world,” they wrote. The two lawmakers singled out PEPFAR, the flagship U.S. HIV/AIDS initiative, and the President’s Malaria Initiative, which are not exempt from the stop-work order, according to Friday’s cable. “These lives depend on an uninterrupted supply of medicines, and your pause in funding will cost lives,” they wrote. Friday’s cable was approved by Rubio but drafted by Peter Marocco, Trump’s newly-installed director of the Office of Foreign Assistance, which provides strategic direction of USAID from the State Department. “In arbitrarily blocking our foreign assistance, we lose trust: from the people relying on this aid for survival whether in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, Ukraine, or those standing in harm’s way delivering this aid. We urge you to immediately resume funding for ongoing U.S. foreign assistance programs so we can deliver on our commitments and save lives,” the lawmakers wrote.

The top Democrats on two congressional committees overseeing U.S. foreign aid spending wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday urging him to resume funding for ongoing U.S. foreign assistance programs.

Their letter comes in the wake of a cable from the State Department — first reported by Devex — that orders both new and current foreign aid programs to grind to a halt. That guidance builds on U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order on “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” issued on his first day in office.

The direction “to block all funding obligations and stop work on existing programs has immediate detrimental impacts, including possible closure of implementing partner organizations needed to carry out this work,” wrote Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Lois Frankel, a Democrat from Florida and ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs.

About the author

Michael Igoe @AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.

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