Federal judge orders Trump administration to pay 'unlawfully' restricted USAID funds

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 authorities 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’s exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place."

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