Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday issued a waiver that permits the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Reduction and different “life-saving humanitarian help” applications to proceed to function throughout the freeze on almost all U.S. international support spending.
Rubio on Jan. 24 directed State Division personnel to cease almost all U.S. international support spending for 90 days in response to an government order that President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration. The Washington Blade obtained a duplicate of the waiver that Rubio on Tuesday issued to “all implementing U.S. authorities companies, companions, and NGOs.”
“For the needs of finishing up the president’s government order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States International Support, I’m approving a further waiver of the pause beneath the manager order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States International Support and my subsequent route of Jan. 24, 2025, for life-saving humanitarian help throughout the interval of the overview,” wrote Rubio. “Implementers of present life-saving humanitarian help applications ought to proceed or resume work if they’ve stopped, topic to the next instructions. This resumption is short-term in nature, and besides by separate waiver or as required to hold out this waiver, no new contracts shall be entered into.”
Rubio provides the “life-saving humanitarian help” waiver “applies to core life-saving drugs, medical companies, meals, shelter, and subsistence help, in addition to provides and cheap administrative prices as essential to ship such help.” He notes the waiver doesn’t apply to “actions that contain abortions, household planning conferences” and “gender or DEl ideology applications, transgender surgical procedures, or different non-life saving help.”
The waiver doesn’t particularly cite PEPFAR, however UNAIDS Government Director Winnie Byanyima in an announcement welcomed it.
“UNAIDS welcomes this waiver from the U.S. authorities which ensures that thousands and thousands of individuals dwelling with HIV can proceed to obtain life-saving HIV treatment throughout the evaluation of US international improvement help,” she stated. “This pressing determination acknowledges PEPFAR’s essential function within the AIDS response and restores hope to folks dwelling with HIV.”
A memo the State Division launched on Wednesday defended the choice to freeze most U.S. international support spending. It additionally notes the waiver that Rubio issued.
“It’s unattainable to judge applications on autopilot as a result of the individuals — each inside and outdoors of presidency — have little to no incentive to share programmatic-level particulars as long as the {dollars} proceed to move,” reads the memo. “A short lived pause, with commonsense waivers for really life-threatening conditions, is the one approach to scrutinize and stop waste.”
The Blade has reached out to the State Division for touch upon the waiver and its influence on PEPFAR.
