The court ordered the State Department to pay the bills of USAID foreign contractors
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to comply with a temporary injunction suspending foreign aid funding and has given the State Department until Wednesday evening to pay all bills for work completed through Feb. 13. About this informs CBS News.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled in favor of the request to enforce the February 13 temporary order. The document obliges the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to resume foreign aid funding under current contracts while a court case initiated by businesses, non-profit organizations and other structures that work with international aid funds continues.
The plaintiffs said the Trump administration’s actions and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s executive order, which froze foreign aid for 90 days, have caused them to lose funding or be forced to shut down their operations. According to the court order, the State Department and USAID have until midnight Wednesday to pay in full all bills and financial requests submitted by February 13.
During an emergency hearing Tuesday, a Justice Department spokesman could not specify what steps the Trump administration is taking to restore funding for foreign aid programs.
At the same time, the lawyer of non-profit organizations and businesses noted that USAID has not yet provided any instructions regarding the unblocking of funds. He stressed that the government is obliged to make payments even for contracts that have been canceled or suspended in recent days.
