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Welcome to The Logoff. Today is a tough one: I want to focus on the Trump administration’s freeze of foreign aid, an issue that is a matter of life-and-death for vulnerable people around the world.

What’s the latest? People around the world are feeling the effects of Trump’s Day 1 decision to freeze all foreign aid. The New York Times has a series of painful examples: displaced Sudanese people losing access to soup kitchens, Thai war refugees getting turned away from hospitals, Ukrainian civilians losing access to firewood.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week ordered “lifesaving” aid to be temporarily exempted from the freeze, but ProPublica reported on Friday that that in at least some cases, that hasn’t happened. The Times reporting also suggests the pause — plus uncertainty over what aid is “lifesaving” — has led to some essential funding falling through the cracks.

There’s no way to sugarcoat this: Foreign aid saves lives, and freezing it will cost them.

Is this funding freeze normal? Absolutely not. Foreign aid fluctuates between administrations, and the law gives them leeway in how it gets distributed. Sometimes individual programs will be stalled for review. But a wholesale freeze is unprecedented. 

How much money are we talking about? Last year, USAID, the State Department’s foreign aid agency, dispersed $43.8 billion — or about 0.7 percent of the federal budget.

What comes next? Politico reported that the State Department has been given about three months to evaluate the foreign aid and then for Rubio to make a recommendation to Trump on which programs should be kept or discontinued. But Rubio on Friday signaled a deep skepticism, saying: “The US government is not a charity.”

Killing the funding, however, would require Trump to stop spending that Congress approved — a move likely banned by a 1974 law. Trump’s team argues that law is unconstitutional, and so the fate of any canceled aid would likely fall to the courts.

And with that, it’s time to log off …

It can feel uncaring or insensitive to deliver news with this gravitas and then pivot to joy. However, I believe that taking care of ourselves mentally — including by consuming hopeful news — is a part of being good citizens. To that end, here’s a story featuring two things I deeply enjoy: polar bears, and potential scientific breakthroughs. Take good care this weekend. I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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