An American judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration In order to pay at least part of the nearly $ 2 billion to foreign help due for previously completed projects at 6 pm on Monday, a quick statement that rejected the request of the Trump government only one day after the Supreme Court has rejected his freezing.
The decision of the judge of the American court Amir Ali came after a hearing of more than four hours Thursday, where he grilled both parties on their proposed repayment plans and a time frame for the government to meet the $ 1.9 billion in foreign help that has been completed.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Ali ordered the government to pay at least part of the $ 1.9 billion on Monday at 6 p.m.
“I think it is reasonable to get the invoices of the claimants on Monday at 6 pm,” said Judge Ali. “What I will order today is the first concrete step that the claimants have paid for their invoices … (s) work completed before 13 February to be paid on Monday 10 March at 6 pm.”
Scotus rules in almost $ 2 billion in frozen USAID payments
Susan Schorr, from DC, has an anti-elon Musk sign and an American flag in protest on 3 February 2025 for the headquarters for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, DC. (Pete Kiehart for the Washington Post via Getty Images)
That order previously set a deadline of 26 February at 11:59 PM for the Trump administration to pay its outstanding debts to foreign aid groups.
The Ministry of Justice had argued that the timeline was “impossible” to meet – an idea that he was rejected by Judge Ali during Thursday’s hearing.
At one point, a lawyer asked for the Ministry of Justice to get more time to get the payments, with reference to the potential difficulty to get financial transactions approved or completed during the weekend. In response, Judge Ali noted that the government had successfully paid more than $ 70 million in the hours between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, and noted that this should also be “possible”.
Judge Ali emphasized during the hearing on Thursday that the deadline of 26 February that he previously set up for the government to pay the $ 1.9 billion in foreign help had passed.
Now, he said, is the job that he gave him through the Supreme Court to clarify the role of the government in reimbursement – instructions, he noted that he tends to ‘take’ very seriously ‘.
Local residents wear bags of food that were distributed by USAID in Noord -Kenia in 2022. Trump has frozen most foreign aid since he took office, which gives rise to a flurry of judicial challenges and efforts to earn back funds for completed projects. (AP/Desmond Tiro)
The decision of the 5-4 Supreme Court sent the case back the day before to the Federal Court of DC, and judge Ali, O hash hash hash the infements of what should be paid and when. Judge Ali moved soon after the decision of the Supreme Court, Return both parties to the court Thursday to weigh plausible repayment schedules.
But the early hours of Thursday’s hearing focused more on the role of the government and the revision of all foreign care providers and subsidies, who told lawyers of the Trump administration judge Ali for which they had already completed and made final decisions.
Stephen Wirth, a lawyer for the claimants, objected to the “Breke” evaluation of the administration of the contracts and subsidies, with the argument that they “had one goal – to end as many contracts as possible”.
Lawyers were also put under pressure whether the Trump government can relocate legally to terminate projects whose funds are allocated and assigned by the congress.
This could eventually make the issue back to the Supreme Court.
Scotus rules in almost $ 2 billion in frozen USAID payments
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Hoogtreshof Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, supreme judge of the Supreme Court John Roberts, Supreme Court Justice Sotice Kagan 60th inaugural ceremony on January 20, in Capitol in Washington, DC. (Ricky Carioti /The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In the case in the case, it was how quickly the Trump administration had to pay to pay the nearly $ 2 billion owed to auxiliary groups and contractors for completed projects financed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), at a time when the administration has issued a general freezing “and the eliminating spending on the name of waste.
President Donald Trump has stated plans to reduce approximately 90% of the USAID foreign auxiliary contracts and to beat an extra $ 60 billion in foreign auxiliary expenditure.
In a Supreme Court -Investor, Acting US Plicitor General Sarah Harris said that although the claimants’ claims were probably ‘legitimate’, the time that judge Ali gave them to pay the outstanding invoices was’ not logistics or technically feasible ‘.
But the claimants did not agree: they said rather that the Trump government had moved too quickly to dismantle the systems needed to send payments to foreign aid groups in the first place -and to purify the many USAID employees who could have facilitated a smoother, faster repayment process.
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The claimants have argued that the lower court judge had ordered the Trump government to start the foreign aid payments owed more than two weeks ago – a deadline that they said that the government would simply not meet, or even taken steps to meet – indicating that the administration had no plans to meet that request.
