Committee hears that payment system and waiver bottlenecks slowed Ebola, HIV and food aid despite waivers
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Summary
Members and witnesses said waivers for life‑saving programs exist but that operational barriers — notably the Phoenix payment system — have kept funds from reaching partners and beneficiaries, leaving some programs stalled despite exemptions.
Members across the aisle told the committee they support oversight of foreign assistance but asked for immediate operational fixes after witnesses and members said approved waivers were not being paid because of administrative failures.
Representative Susan Jacobs quoted reporting and agency staff that "the Ebola funding and virtually all of the HIV prevention funding remains frozen ... because the payment system called Phoenix that USAID relies on to disperse financial assistance has been inaccessible for weeks." Several witnesses and members said the system outage — and the administrative removals of career staff — have delayed disbursements for programs that Congress and the State Department consider life‑saving.
Former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios said the agency's field missions and local staff are critical to early warning for infectious disease and famine. "We built a system in 90 southern countries for monitoring all infectious diseases, and that's the early warning system," he told the committee. He and other witnesses recommended restoring experienced mission staff and ensuring payment platforms operate so waivers actually restart fund flows.
Members cited examples they said require urgent attention: ongoing Ebola response in Uganda, antiretroviral drug delivery under PEPFAR, and food shipments that committee members and witnesses said were purchased but at risk of spoiling because of payment and shipping delays. The committee did not resolve the dispute over cause — administration policy vs. operational breakdown — but pressed the administration to brief the panel on Phoenix and waiver implementation and to clarify which programs remain blocked.
Several members asked the panel to provide a detailed list of programs approved for waivers and a timetable for restarting payments. Members also asked for a written inventory of grants and contracts that are currently paused, in waiver review, or blocked by payment‑system problems.