in effect
This is Executive Order 14169, signed January 20, 2025, and published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2025. It is a presidential directive that orders a temporary halt and review of United States foreign aid spending. It states the policy that no U.S. foreign assistance may be paid out unless it aligns with the President’s foreign policy.
The order immediately pauses all new obligations and disbursements of U.S. foreign development assistance to foreign countries, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors. Within 90 days of the order, every foreign assistance program must be reviewed for efficiency and consistency with U.S. foreign policy, and agency heads must decide whether to continue, modify, or end each program, with the Secretary of State’s concurrence. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) enforces the pause using its apportionment authority (its control over how appropriated funds are released). Paused funding can restart before the 90 days end if a program is reviewed and the Secretary of State (or a designee), in consultation with OMB, decides to keep it; any new programs also require that approval. The Secretary of State may waive the pause for specific programs.
Federal departments and agencies that run foreign development assistance programs must stop new spending and conduct the reviews, with the Secretary of State setting the guidelines and OMB coordinating. Foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors that receive U.S. development aid feel the pause directly, as their funding is frozen pending review. The order also states it creates no legal rights that any party can enforce against the U.S. government.