A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to pay the remainder of foreign aid owed to contractors for completed work, noting in a new court ruling that the administration likely violated the separation of powers doctrine by “unlawfully impounding” nearly $2 billion in funds appropriated by Congress.
U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, said in the ruling that the Trump administration likely exceeded its constitutional authority in attempting to block the payments owed by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to grant recipients and foreign aid contractors.
“Here, the executive has unilaterally deemed that funds Congress appropriated for foreign aid will not be spent,” Ali said.
“The executive not only claims his constitutional authority to determine how to spend appropriated funds, but usurps Congress’ exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place.”
Ali said the limits of the case, which focuses solely on projects completed before Feb. 13, prevent him from ordering the administration to make payments on other work, or ordering the reinstatement of other contracts.
According to Fox News as of last Friday, that amount owed by the government stood at around $671 million. It is unclear whether additional payments have been made, though Ali ordered the plaintiffs to file a joint status report by March 14 apprising the court of the Trump administration’s compliance with the order.
The Supreme Court took up the case for emergency review last week, but ruled 5-4 to reject the administration’s request to extend the freeze. Instead, the court remanded the case back to the D.C. federal court and Ali to hash out the specifics of what must be paid and when.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
