Judge orders Trump administration to pay some USAid debts by Monday
"District judge calls payment of some of the $2bn owed to partners of USAid and state department ‘concrete’ first step
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to speed up its payment on some of nearly $2bn in debts to partners of the US Agency for International Development (USAid) and the state department, giving it a Monday deadline to repay the non-profit groups and businesses in a lawsuit over the administration’s abrupt shutdown of foreign assistance funding.
The US district judge Amir Ali described the partial payment as a “concrete” first step he wanted to see from the administration, which is fighting multiple lawsuits seeking to roll back the administration’s dismantling of USAid and a six-week freeze on USAid funding, which has forced US-funded organizations to halt aid and development work around the world and lay off workers.
Ali’s line of questioning in a four-hour hearing on Thursday suggested skepticism of the Trump administration’s argument that presidents have wide authority to override congressional decisions on spending when it comes to foreign policy.
It would be an “earth-shaking, country-shaking proposition to say that appropriations are optional”, Ali said.
“The question I have for you is, where are you getting this from in the constitutional document?” he asked a government lawyer, Indraneel Sur.
Thursday’s order is in an ongoing case with more decisions coming on the administration’s termination of more than 90% of USAid contracts worldwide this month.
Ali’s ruling came a day after a divided US supreme court rejected the Trump administration’s bid to freeze funding that flowed through USAid. The high court instructed Ali to clarify what the government must do to comply with his earlier order requiring the quick release of funds for work that had already been done.
The funding freeze stemmed from an executive order signed by Trump on 20 January, his inauguration day. The administration appealed after Ali issued a temporary restraining order and set a deadline to release payment for work already done.
The administration said it had replaced a blanket spending freeze with individualized determinations, which led to the cancellation of 5,800 USAid contracts – more than 90% of the agency’s contracts for projects – and 4,100 state department grants totaling nearly $60bn in aid."
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