Who is affected and how:

• Refugees and disaster survivors: Programs that support refugee assistance and disaster relief may have less unobligated money available for future grants, emergency responses, or program expansions, which could reduce the speed or scale of assistance.
• Foreign governments and partners: Foreign aid projects that depended on unobligated balances for follow-on activities or matching funds could face cuts, delays, or need to seek alternative financing.
• International organizations and humanitarian NGOs: Planned contributions or cooperative activities that would have been funded from the rescinded unobligated balances may be reduced or postponed, affecting program delivery worldwide.
• Federal agencies holding unobligated balances: Agencies will have reduced budget authority to obligate for the affected purposes and must revise spending plans, reprogram remaining funds where allowed, and update accounting records.
• U.S. diplomatic and humanitarian capacity: Reducing unobligated foreign assistance and international organization funding can constrain flexibility for responses to crises, diplomatic initiatives, and longstanding program commitments.

Overall, the immediate effect is a permanent reduction in previously available funding (unobligated balances). That reduces agencies' ability to use those specific funds for future contracts, grants, or program activities and can require operational adjustments, reprioritization, or reliance on other funding sources to sustain ongoing efforts.