Just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, when the Trump administration's federal aid freeze was scheduled to begin, a D.C. judge issued a ruling pausing it for a week, setting the stage for a high-profile legal fight. It's not the only conflict playing out over the freeze.
THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON -- A battle between political and career staffers is underway at the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). When the Trump administration unveiled a 90-day foreign aid freeze in an attempt to determine what funding is "consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda," Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave career staffers an opportunity to submit waivers for funding they believed aligned with that agenda.
"Those staffers went on to submit some 200 waivers for programs that would have cost taxpayers $1.2 billion this week alone," the Free Beacon's Adam Kredo reports, "including some that pertained to 'environmental justice' and 'LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development.' The Rubio-led State Department rejected all of them, sources familiar with the process told the Washington Free Beacon."
Rubio did provide parameters for grant waivers he'd approve: ones that consisted of "core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as essential supplies and reasonable administrative costs to deliver such assistance," according to an internal memo we reviewed. One career staffer responded to that memo by requesting $1.6 million for staffers in Ecuador—not to provide aid, but to conduct "oversight" into ongoing grants in the country. Another requested $230,000 to support a fellowship program whose members include a political science professor who researches "Latinx politics."