Washington – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to comply with a temporary order prohibiting it from pausing foreign assistance funding issued earlier this month, and he gave the State Department until Wednesday night to pay all bills for work completed before February 13.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali granted a motion to enforce his temporary restraining order dated February 13. It required the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, to restore foreign-aid funds for contracts and other awards while proceedings in a case brought by a group of businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that provide foreign aid continue.
The contractors claimed they had been cut off from federal funds or forced to halt their work as a result of Mr. Trump’s executive order — and a subsequent directive from Secretary of State Marco Rubio — which froze foreign development aid for 90 days.
According to Ali’s ruling, the State Department and USAID must pay any invoices and drawdown requests owed before February 13 by midnight Wednesday. Ali also ordered the government to turn over any internal directives from the State Department or USAID leadership instructing employees to follow the court’s restraining order.
At an emergency hearing on Tuesday, a Justice Department lawyer was unable to provide specifics on how the Trump administration planned to restore funding for foreign aid programs.
“Twelve days into the TRO, you can not give me any facts about funds being unfrozen under the TRO?” Ali questioned government attorneys, citing the temporary restraining order.
“The government has done nothing to make these payments happen,” an attorney representing the plaintiffs later claimed.
The lawyer for the nonprofits and businesses stated that there have been “zero directives” from the agency regarding the unfreezing of foreign assistance funds. He also stated that the government must continue to make payments, even if contracts have been canceled or suspended in recent days.
The companies’ lawyer cited the terms of Ali’s order, which temporarily lifted the pause on foreign assistance funds, and claimed that the Trump administration has “done absolutely nothing to give meaning to that provision.”
On Monday, the nonprofit groups and companies requested that Ali order “immediate payment of all funds owed and due to plaintiffs and other USAID and State Department implementing partners.” The contractors claimed that despite Ali’s temporary restraining order, they were still owed “millions of dollars on due and overdue invoices and reimbursement requests” that had been paused but then ordered to be reinstated.
According to a declaration from Zan Northrip, an executive at the international development company DAI Global, no payments on $115 million in outstanding bills to USAID have been received since February 13. More than $70 million is over 30 days late.
According to DAI Global, the invoices are for work completed prior to Rubio’s cable on Jan. 24 announcing a 90-day pause on new spending for foreign assistance programs funded by the State Department and USAID. The company stated that it is providing “up-front financing to the US government of more than $150 million”.
Northrip wrote that, while some stop-work orders have been lifted, none of the 28 project terminations previously implemented by USAID have been reversed. According to the declaration, DAI Global has furloughed 124 employees based in the United States.
According to the Congressional Research Service, USAID will manage more than $40 billion in appropriations in 2023, with the majority of the funding going to US organizations that grant funds to local partners around the world.
While Ali’s order provides temporary relief to foreign aid programs and companies, the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID continues.
An estimated 4,200 USAID employees were placed on administrative leave Sunday night after a federal judge last week denied a motion by unions representing USAID employees to halt the move.
