An appellate court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration, overturning a lower court’s decision and allowing the administration to proceed with its plan to eliminate billions of dollars in foreign aid allocated for this year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, overturned a lower court ruling that had barred the Trump administration from making significant cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding previously approved by Congress.
The majority of the judges ruled that the international aid organizations challenging President Trump’s freeze on foreign assistance lacked legal standing to pursue the lawsuit.
“The district court erred in granting that relief because the grantees lack a cause of action to press their claims,” Judge Karen Henderson wrote for the majority, citing only that the Comptroller General is authorized to bring suit.
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The three-judge panel declined to address the constitutional question of whether Trump has the authority to delay funds already approved by Congress. Critics argue that the president’s actions undermine Congress’s power to control federal spending.
In her dissenting opinion, Judge Florence Pan brought up Congress’s power of the purse.
“The majority opinion thus misconstrues the separation-of-powers claim brought by the grantees, misapplies precedent, and allows Executive Branch officials to evade judicial review of constitutionally impermissible actions,” Pan wrote.
Executive order and cuts to USAID
Shortly after taking office for a second term, President Trump signed an executive order pausing foreign aid assistance for 90 days while programs were reviewed. He called USAID “wasteful” and dismantled the agency, resulting in the layoff of thousands of employees. The government also canceled more than 10,000 previously approved foreign aid awards administered through both USAID and the State Department.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in February blocked Trump’s executive order from taking effect.
Pushback on spending justifications
Straight Arrow News also previously reported that the White House published a list of USAID projects it considered wasteful, including a $1.5 million grant to LGBTQ+ groups in Serbia and $2.5 million allocated for electric vehicles in Vietnam.
Critics have pushed back on how the Trump administration portrayed foreign aid spending, saying some projects were misrepresented. For example, one project the administration labeled as simply funding tourism in Egypt was actually aimed at improving things like access to clean water, education, and transportation in the region.
Others have pointed to USAID funding aimed at protecting endangered species from poachers. Nonprofits that used that taxpayer funding said the sudden reduction of hundreds of millions of dollars has emboldened the underground industry.
