WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday moved to reinstate at least six recently canceled U.S. foreign aid programs, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Jeremy Lewin, acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations. Lewin also works for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
The programs that he asked to restore were the World Food Programme awards in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, five sources familiar with the matter said.
Reuters reported on Monday that the Trump administration had ended lifesaving aid programs for more than a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totaling over $1.3 billion.
"Sorry for all the back and forth on awards," Lewin said in the internal email seen by Reuters. "There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that’s my fault and I take responsibility," he added.
The reversal followed pressure from inside the administration and from Congress, two sources said, and after the U.N. World Food Programme said the closing of the programs could be "a death sentence" for millions.
The cuts have been the latest piece of the Trump administration's drive to dismantle USAID, the main U.S. humanitarian aid agency. The administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid since the Republican president began his second term on Jan. 20.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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