The Trump administration must pay approximately $2 billion in foreign aid funding, a federal judge said Monday in an order that blasted the administration over its possible Constitutional violation.
District Judge Amir Ali of Washington, D.C., said in a 48-page order that the administration was required to pay out contracts between the United States and its global humanitarian partners using the funds that Congress already appropriated – the second time he ordered the administration to do so.
The federal judge said the case was a “departure from the firmly established constitutional partnership” between the two branches of government.
Two global health groups sued the Trump administration after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping order that paused most foreign aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development and “special government employee” Elon Musk ordered massive workforce cuts.
The groups said the administration’s efforts to curtail foreign aid made it nearly impossible to administer life-saving medical and food programs.
Trump had argued that as the president, he has the authority to determine how federal tax dollars are spent – an argument he has made as part of a larger effort to restructure the government in his vision. But Ali said that likely violated the separation of powers laid-out in the Constitution.
Article II expressly gives Congress the power of the purse, the constitutionality of which, Ali noted, had “not been questioned.”
The latest order arrived less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the Trump administration’s request to reverse Ali’s previous order.
The Supreme Court had temporarily paused Ali’s previous order from taking effect while it considered the case but ultimately decided that the lower courts had the authority to direct the administration to pay out the remainder of the contracts.
Ali said the administration had to process “roughly 1,200 payments” to the plaintiffs over the course of four days. He noted that the pause in payments likely caused “irreparable harm” by delaying time-sensitive anti-malaria campaigns and distribution of HIV prevention medication in parts of Africa.
Monday’s ruling only applies to contracts that have already been executed between the U.S. government and foreign aid partners; it does not apply to future work or call for canceled contracts to be restored.
Ali said the Trump administration’s desire to rapidly cut global assistance was separate from the challenge in this case and had to be handled appropriately.
Citing “waste, fraud and abuse” in USAID, Musk had suggested Trump begin drastically cutting back funding and staffing – effectively axing the entire federal agency aimed at providing humanitarian aid across the globe.
After carrying out a six-week-long review of USAID’s funding and goals, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday they would cancel approximately 82 percent of the programs that fall under the agency.
