Aid groups tell judge that Trump’s pause on foreign aid has ‘devastated’ their operations

At an emergency hearing on Wednesday, a group of nonprofit aid organizations claimed that the Trump administration’s “opaque and chaotic” 90-day halt on foreign aid had already “devastated” their operations, citing the resulting effects as justification for a court order to stop the administration’s broad executive order. President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Acting USAID Administrator Peter Marocco, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, the State Department, USAID, and OMB were all sued by the relief organizations on Tuesday. At the hearing on Wednesday, Stephen Wirth, an attorney for the NGOs, contended that his clients’ “businesses are shuttering” as the administration sorts through its foreign aid objectives. “Food is rotting,” remarked Wirth. “Medical supplies are expiring and community relationships that took decades to build are crumbling.”

The government contract and grant payment system is “completely frozen,” according to Wirth and his co-counsel, which means that organizations are unable to finish projects for which monies have already been authorized. The nonprofits’ lawsuit, according to Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton, is a “one-size-fits-all vehicle to litigate highly fact-dependent issues,” and it should be handled “case by case, contract by contract,” as opposed to the broad relief the plaintiffs are requesting. Even though he admitted that “there might be some hiccups in implementing” the exceptions, Hamilton said that they were adequate to allow the 90-day moratorium to continue uninterrupted since they were put in place to save programs that were judged to be crucial to the “national interest.” “The policy we’re talking about is just a 90-day pause in funding,” Hamilton said.

A lawyer for Public Citizen, another group suing the government, Nicolas Sansone, however, stated that some of the relief organizations “may well not be able to survive the 90 days.” The Biden-era appointee who called the emergency telephone hearing, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, requested that plaintiffs submit a “more tailored” proposed order by 7:30 p.m. ET and stated that he will provide a written decision at a later date. The assistance organizations claim that the president and secretary of state, among other U.S. government officials, have violated the Constitution and other federal statutes by neglecting to manage monies that Congress has approved. The groups claimed on Wednesday morning that contract terminations from the administration had “accelerated” in the 24 hours since they filed their lawsuits, and asked Judge Ali to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent further actions from the administration.