'Death sentence': Advocates blast $1.3 billion in State Department food aid cuts
The State Department has moved to squeeze lifesaving foreign aid dramatically for countries around the world, according to several U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
The latest cuts include the termination of all remaining U.S. Agency for International Development contracts supporting the delivery of food, water and medicine to populations in Afghanistan and Yemen, the cancellation of the largest World Food Programme (WFP) contract for Somalia, and the termination of several awards that funded the delivery of critical assistance in Syria and Lebanon, three officials told ABC News.
Jordan, Haiti, Gaza, Niger, Palau and Papua New Guinea, as well as several other countries and major aid groups, also saw significant lifesaving aid contracts terminated in recent days, they added.
The latest round of cuts to aid totals over $1.3 billion, according to OneAID, a grassroots advocacy group made up of former and current USAID experts and partners.
It also marks an apparent reversal for the State Department, which previously granted exemptions for the funding to continue after the Trump administration's sweeping reduction in U.S. foreign aid prompted widespread backlash.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed during a press briefing on Tuesday that the United States had eliminated many contracts.
However, she argued the majority of funding to the WFP had not been affected, saying, “First of all, 85% of previously existing USAID programs with the World Food Program worldwide remain active and ongoing. So it is inaccurate, as some have intimated, that USAID has defunded the World Food Program ... or that we've broadly backed away from our commitments to providing lifesaving food aid.”
She did note that some WFP programs had been terminated “based on specific country or program-level priorities.”
“The largest group of World Food Programme awards terminated were in Yemen and Afghanistan through an executive order that was issued based on concern that the funding was benefiting terrorist groups, including the Houthis and the Taliban,” she said. “Other awards were terminated because they provided cash-based assistance, which the administration is moving away from, given concerns about misuse and lack of appropriate accountability for American taxpayers here at home.”
The WFP confirmed on Monday that the U.S. government had informed the organization that funding for emergency food assistance in 14 countries had been terminated.
"If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation," the WFP said in a statement. "We are in contact with the US administration to seek clarification and to urge for continued support for these life-saving programmes."
ABC News reached out to the State Department for comment on the cuts but did not receive a response.
It's unclear what motivated the latest round of funding cancellations, but one official said they were ordered by Jeremy Lewin, the USAID deputy administrator for policy who previously worked with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to dismantle the agency.
The official also said many of the programs hit by the latest cuts were recently granted hiring privileges or had spending modifications to their contracts approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
These special permissions were viewed as an indication that State Department leadership viewed the work as essential for fulfilling its mission of delivering "core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance" amid the Trump administration's review of all foreign aid spending.
Bruce added in her press briefing that some awards had been inadvertently eliminated but that they had since been restored, though she declined to give any details.
“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.
Shortly after returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump ordered all a freeze on all foreign assistance for 90 days, leading to a flurry of stop-work orders and hiring freezes affecting a broad range of humanitarian aid work.
Since then, the Trump administration has moved to cancel some $60 billion worth of foreign aid grants and contracts, but senior officials like Rubio have promised that the most essential assistance would continue.
"This is not about getting rid of aid. This is about restructuring how we're going to do aid," Rubio said last month.
