Published on January 20, 2025
This executive order mandates an immediate 90-day pause on all foreign development assistance programs, requiring a comprehensive review of their alignment with U.S. foreign policy and programmatic efficiency. The Secretary of State, in consultation with the OMB Director, is granted authority to approve, modify, or terminate programs, with the power to waive the pause for specific initiatives.
While framed as an efficiency measure, this order effectively centralizes control of foreign aid under direct White House oversight, potentially transforming humanitarian assistance into a political leverage tool. The vague criterion of alignment with "the foreign policy of the President" rather than established U.S. foreign policy objectives suggests a shift toward personalized rather than institutional decision-making, while the broad waiver authority creates a system where aid could be selectively deployed to reward political allies or punish opponents.
Though presented as a routine review of foreign assistance programs, this executive order represents a fundamental restructuring of U.S. foreign aid distribution, shifting from an institutionalized system to one more directly controlled by the executive branch. The combination of broad executive authority and selective enforcement capabilities creates a framework that could significantly alter the traditional humanitarian focus of U.S. foreign assistance toward more politically motivated objectives.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values. They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries. Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of United States that no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States. Sec. 3. (a) 90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy. All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries and implementing non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors pending reviews of such programs for programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy, to be conducted within 90 days of this order. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall enforce this pause through its apportionment authority. (b) Reviews of United States foreign assistance programs. Reviews of each foreign assistance program shall be ordered by the responsible department and agency heads under guidelines provided by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of OMB. (c) Determinations. The responsible department and agency heads, in consultation with the Director of OMB, will make determinations within 90 days of this order on whether to continue, modify, or cease each foreign assistance program based upon the review recommendations, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State. (d) Resumption of paused development assistance funding. New obligations and disbursements of foreign development assistance funds may resume for a program prior to the end of the 90-day period if a review is conducted, and the Secretary of State or his designee, in consultation with the Director of OMB, decide to continue the program in the same or modified form. Additionally, any other new foreign assistance programs and obligations must be approved by the Secretary of State or his designee, in consultation with the Director of OMB. (e) Waiver. The Secretary of State may waive the pause in Section 3(a) for specific programs. Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. THE WHITE HOUSE, January 20, 2025.