A Trump administration lawyer said Wednesday that nearly 10,000 U.S. agencies have been terminated for international development and State Department contracts and grants, including HIV prevention and treatment efforts previously exempt from freezing foreign aid on blankets.
The cancellation was the latest move in the administration to spend us abroad across the country as we faced off against a federal judge who ordered a temporary reopening of foreign aid, which was frozen on President Trump's first day.
The administrative attorney revealed a cut in the application to judge on Wednesday, but said that the USAID and the State Department would not meet the 11:59 p.m. deadline.
Several aid workers and USAID officials said the president's emergency plan for AIDS relief, or at least some money for the Pepfahl, was eliminated.
The statement came in a status report on the administration's progress in accordance with the February 13th order by U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali in the District of Columbia. In the order, he said the government must pay the funds and grants recipients who already work with foreign aid contractors around the world and say that US-backed programs will save countless lives and increase American influence overseas.
Trump and other US officials argue that foreign aid, which accounts for about 1% of the federal budget, has grown in vain and is being separated from the important American interests.
The move is the latest twist in the tug-of-war between the Trump administration and the legal system, with administration officials saying they are working to follow the orders while they simultaneously search for ways around them.
After Trump ordered the agency to suspend almost all foreign aid spending over 90 days in January, authorities reviewed individual projects, but aid groups sued. They argued that the suspension would risk their mission and the lives of millions of people who rely on programs the US government has funded for decades.
On February 13, Judge Ali issued an order requiring agencies to announce funding for “contracts, grants, cooperation agreements, loans or other federal foreign support awards,” which were in existence as of January 19, the day before Trump took office.
However, post-group groups, including those who filed the lawsuit, report that their funds never recovered. At hearing Tuesday, the lawyer told Judge Ali the only reasonable explanation was that the government had never taken steps to lift the blanket with foreign aid.
In its submission, the administration argued that it had fulfilled the court's request by ending the program's “good and personalised assessment” as the agency proceeded to review its grants and contracts and determined that all but a few of them would be cancelled.
“USAID is in the process of processing end characters that are targeted to reach substantial completion within the next 24-48 hours,” he said. “As a result, USAID or state obligations remain in suspended or suspended states.”
According to the submission, the government has decided to identify and maintain about 3,200 contracts and granted the grant saying it is “committed to moving forward with the remaining awards fully.”
Judge Ali repeatedly pressed lawyers representing the government to clarify whether the funds have been released since the February 13th order. The lawyers were unable to point out any indication that the aid was flowing, and Judge Ali set a new deadline for the government to pay unpaid bills or drawdown requests scheduled for February 13 by midnight on Thursday.
According to Pete Marocco, the top appointee of foreign aid, the ongoing hold-up was, at least in part, due to logistical issues. Marrocco said the two agencies face unpaid payment requests totaling nearly $2 billion.
“These payments will not be achieved in the time allocated by the court and will instead take weeks,” he wrote in a document supporting the government's debate over more time submitted Wednesday.
In their own submission on Wednesday, the group that poses a legal challenge to the Trump administration listed complaints about how the Trump administration went.
In it, the lawyer argued that Trump officials have “added a new review layer to all payments of foreign aid funds, including demanding line-by-line policy justification for payments for past jobs already approved through the usual approval process.”
The lawyer pointed to a statement of oath by aid workers who said on Tuesday they were unable to work abroad, including paying for HIV drugs purchased with US aid.
The State Department issued Pepfar waives a few weeks ago, allowing funding for those programs. However, several statements filed Wednesday said that invoices related to Pepfer have not yet been paid.
A statement filed in favour of the group that he sued on Wednesday detailed other harm.
“In my portfolio, this means that hungry children will not receive easy-to-use medical foods immediately. Pregnant and breastfeeding women will not be screened for malnutrition, and refugee households will not be provided with vouchers to purchase meals for their families,” declared one worker.
It was not immediately clear how the revelation of the Joint Status Report filed Wednesday would affect the course of the litigation. Judge Ali's February 13th, a temporary restraining order calling for the Trump administration to maintain aid flow, is set to expire Thursday.
Government lawyers immediately appealed his deadlines, citing what they described as a highly unrealistic timeline to pay them.
“Restarting funds related to a contract that has been terminated or suspended is not as simple as turning on a switch or faucet, so it will require additional time,” they wrote in their application Tuesday.
