The Trump administration has temporarily frozen and ordered a review of several key foreign aid funds that Congress has already approved, in a move that critics fear could lead to another attempted rollback of foreign aid.
The Office of Management and Budget sent a letter to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development on Saturday, notifying them of the action, which took effect one minute before midnight that day.
The OMB asked the agencies for a balance sheet of foreign aid projects that have not yet been funded. Michael P. Duffey, the associate director for national security programs at OMB, wrote that no more money can be obligated from those funds until three days after OMB receives the numbers, a process that could take days if not weeks.