Rubio orders freeze of new funding for nearly all U.S. foreign aid programs

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sent an order to all U.S. diplomatic and consular posts instructing a pause on "all new obligations of funding, pending a review, for foreign assistance programs funded by or through the Department and USAID." The message was in line with the executive order President Trump signed on Monday to reevaluate U.S. foreign aid. 

The order, which was obtained by CBS News, said that across the U.S. government, "it is currently impossible to access sufficient information in one place to determine whether the foreign assistance policies and interests supported by appropriations are not duplicated, are effective, and are consistent with President Trump's foreign policy." 

Rubio's order went on to say that the State Department "needs a centralized repository from which senior Department, USAID officials, Ambassadors, missions and others can draw sufficiently detailed information from which the Secretary can make judgments." It added, "Further guidance regarding a new or updated repository and mandatory bureau submissions to it will be forthcoming."