U.S. Supreme Court blocks Trump’s $2B foreign aid freeze
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to maintain a freeze on approximately $2 billion in foreign aid approved by Congress.
The decision, backed by a five-to-four vote, was reported by The New York Times and CNN.
However, the ruling did not specify when the funds should be released, allowing the White House to continue legal challenges in lower courts, CNN noted.
The court order was unsigned, which is standard practice for emergency requests. It stated that the presiding judge, who had previously ordered the government to resume payments, must clarify the obligations the administration must fulfill, according to The New York Times and HotNews.ro.
The Trump administration suspended the aid on January 20, the day Trump took office. Several nonprofit organizations challenged the freeze in court, arguing that it was unconstitutional and undermined Congress’s allocations for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The impact of this unlawful action cannot be overstated: major and small organizations forced to shut down programs and lay off employees; starving children worldwide left without food; populations facing deadly diseases; and threats to our constitutional order,” attorneys from the Global Health Council, a coalition of health organizations, wrote in their lawsuit.
Judge Amir Ali of the U.S. District Court in Washington, appointed by former President Joe Biden, issued a temporary restraining order on February 13, prohibiting the administration from stopping payments under contracts that were active before Trump took office.
He ruled that the administration had not provided any justification for the broad suspension of aid that Congress had mandated. However, administration officials attempted to bypass or challenge the order, arguing that they retained the right to review grants and contracts on a case-by-case basis and approve or deny funding accordingly.
Court documents revealed that the Trump administration sought to freeze over 90% of USAID’s foreign aid funds.
“In total, nearly 5,800 USAID programs were terminated, while more than 500 were retained,” one document stated.
“The total maximum value of the retained programs is approximately $57 billion,” it further noted.
On January 20, President Trump issued an executive order suspending most U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days, aiming to reassess them in alignment with his foreign policy objectives.
U.S. aid to Moldova, primarily distributed through USAID, had supported projects in winemaking, energy efficiency, infrastructure, and education. Experts warn that Moldova must identify alternative funding sources to sustain these initiatives, given the suspension of U.S. assistance.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
