The paper examines twists and turns in the US policies towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). It identifies key differences in the positions of the executive and the legislative branches, as well as the deepening discrepancies between the Democrats and the Republicans on financing UNRWA under the Obama administration. The paper identifies the logic behind and the circumstances surrounding the Trump’s team unprecedented decision to end funding to the UNRWA and the corresponding international and domestic reaction. Also it studies the motives behind the Biden administration’s decision to resume aid through the UNRWA in the exchange for the Agency’s new commitments and assesses ambivalent implications of this action.