A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to pay nearly $2 billion in foreign aid to recipients and contractors for work completed through Feb. 13, and it issued a March 14 deadline to show the court how it plans to do so.
Judge Amir Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order Monday arguing that the Trump administration was “unlawfully impounding congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds” through some of its proposed cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“The Executive not only claims his constitutional authority to determine how to spend appropriated funds but usurps Congress’s exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place,” Ali said.
He added, “In advancing this position, Defendants offer an unbridled view of Executive power that the Supreme Court has consistently rejected – a view that flouts multiple statutes whose constitutionality is not in question, as well as the standards of the Administrative Procedure Act.”
Ali did not block the ability of the Trump administration to cancel future aid or contracts but did rule that it must report back to the court with how it plans to pay contractors and grants for work through Feb. 13 by Friday.
The order came less than a week after the Supreme Court rejected a bid by the Trump administration to vacate the lower court’s ruling, which required it to pay $2 billion in foreign aid payments to contractors and through grants.
RUBIO CANCELS 83% OF USAID CONTRACTS AFTER SIX-WEEK REVIEW
The district court ruling came the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the Trump administration canceled 83% of USAID contracts after a six-week review.
Rubio also said roughly 1,000 USAID programs would continue but that they would be handled under the State Department rather than USAID.