USAID Contractors Put on Unpaid Leave

(3 Minutes Read)

The furloughs come even as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued overnight an additional waiver for “life-saving humanitarian assistance” while Washington undertakes the 90-day review Trump initiated just hours after he came into office on Jan. 20.

Hundreds of contractors working for the U.S. Agency for International Development are being put on unpaid leave and some are being terminated after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on U.S. foreign aid worldwide.

The furloughs come even as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued overnight an additional waiver for “life-saving humanitarian assistance” while Washington undertakes the 90-day review Trump initiated just hours after he came into office on Jan. 20.

Despite the waiver, health and humanitarian groups around the world were still uncertain if and how they could resume work and whether their programs were covered by the exception.

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The administration says it is conducting the review to ensure the tens of billions of dollars worth of U.S. foreign assistance worldwide is aligned with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and not a waste of taxpayer money.

The United States is by far the largest donor of aid globally. In the fiscal year 2023, it disbursed USD 72 billion of assistance worldwide on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work.