Trump Administration Ordered to Restore Foreign Aid Funding

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to comply with a temporary order preventing it from pausing foreign assistance funding. The judge gave the State Department until Wednesday night to pay all bills for work completed before February 13th.

The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that do foreign aid work. The plaintiffs argued that they had been cut off from federal dollars or forced to stop their work because of President Trump's executive action and a subsequent directive from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that froze foreign development aid for 90 days.

Under the judge's ruling, the State Department and USAID must pay any invoices and drawdown requests owed before February 13th by midnight Wednesday. The judge also ordered the government to turn over any internal directives from the State Department or USAID leadership telling employees to comply with the court's restraining order.

At an emergency hearing, a Justice Department lawyer was unable to provide specifics on what steps the Trump administration was taking to restore funding for foreign aid programs. The judge expressed frustration with the lack of progress and questioned why the government had not taken any action to comply with the court order.

The plaintiffs' attorney argued that the government had done nothing to make the payments happen and that there had been "zero directives" from the agency with respect to the unfreezing of foreign assistance funds. He added that the government still has to make payments that are owed, even on contracts that have been canceled or suspended in the past few days.

The judge's order provides temporary relief to foreign aid programs and companies. However, the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID has continued. An estimated 4,200 USAID staffers were placed on administrative leave after a federal judge denied a motion by unions representing USAID workers to pause the move.