U.S.-funded aid programs worldwide have begun firing staff and preparing to shut down their operations as an unprecedented Trump administration freeze on foreign assistance brings their work to a sudden halt.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio backtracked on Trump’s near-total foreign aid freeze and approved potentially billions of dollars in “life-saving humanitarian assistance.” Many aid groups are still unsure what that means.

Many of the frozen programs are aimed at alleviating disease and malnutrition, but even security programs with U.S. funding are shutting down.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has approved some waivers for emergency food aid and some salaries after President Donald Trump’s executive order to halt and reevaluate all foreign development assistance prompted an outcry among aid groups around the world.

President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on nearly all U.S. foreign aid froze a globe-spanning apparatus that provides assistance ranging from weapons of war to lifesaving medicines. Under an executive order signed during his first week in office,

Marco Rubio told State Department employees that changes under President Trump “are not meant to be destructive, they’re not meant to be punitive.”

Officials inside and outside of the US government are grappling with the fallout of the Trump administration’s sudden suspension of almost all foreign aid with some humanitarian officials warning that people will die as a result.

U.S-funded aid programs around the world have begun firing staff and shutting down or preparing to stop their operations, as the Trump administration's unprecedented freeze on almost all foreign assistance brings their work to a sudden halt.

Tenn., joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss how President Donald Trump has leveraged foreign policy in America's best interests and the confirmation status of the president's controversial nominees.