Source: The Guardian
A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump's administration to temporarily lift a funding freeze that has shut down US humanitarian aid and development work around the world, and he has set a five-day deadline for the administration to prove it is complying.
The judge's ruling late on Thursday cited the financial devastation that the near-overnight cutoff of payments has caused suppliers and non-profits that carry out much of US aid overseas.
The ruling was the first to challenge the Republican administration's funding freeze. It comes amid a growing number of lawsuits by government employees' groups, aid groups and government suppliers asking courts to roll back the administration's fast-paced dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, or USAid, and US foreign assistance overall.
Administration officials "have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended" contracts with thousands of non-profit groups, businesses and others, "was a rational precursor to reviewing programs", Judge Amir H Ali said in his ruling.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/trump-usaid-foreign-aid-funding