Trump administration appeals deadline to release US foreign aid funding

Despite a court order mandating it, the administration of President Donald Trump has argued that it cannot meet the pending deadline to release frozen funds for international aid.

The deadline was set for Wednesday at 11: 59pm Eastern time (04: 59 GMT Thursday), after US District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, DC, found that the Trump administration had failed to comply with an earlier order calling for the funds ‘ distribution.

But late on Tuesday night, lawyers for the administration appealed Judge Ali’s ruling.

They filed a request for an appeals court to halt the legal process while the legal proceedings continue.

Additionally, they received a statement from Trump ally Pete Marocco, who serves as the organization’s deputy director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the center of the controversy.

Marocco testified it could take “multiple weeks” for the payments to be disbursed, and he estimated that $2bn would need to be paid.

He also said the slowdown was the result of new Trump-era procedures, designed to ensure that the payments line up with the administration’s policy priorities.

However, Judge Ali had previously rejected that claim, arguing that contract refusal was inadmissible.

Trump had previously stated that his administration would suspend the payment of foreign aid for a 90-day period pending a review of aid programs when he took office for a second term on January 20.

That review, his order explained, would ensure “consistency with United States foreign policy”.

Trump has also moved to shutter USAID, accusing it of corruption and being run by “radical left lunatics”, without offering proof of any wrongdoing.

This week, 1, 600 USAID workers were fired, and the majority of the remaining staff was placed on leave. Employees of USAID were informed that their offices would be given a 15-minute break on Tuesday.

With no clear deadlines for the government to pay its bills, nonprofits, contractors, and other businesses are left in the dark due to the sudden stop in foreign aid. Prior to the Trump administration, USAID distributed an estimated $60bn in aid each year.

Judge Ali had requested on February 13 that the Trump administration temporarily lift the funding freeze to allow the government to pay nonprofits and contractors as of that date.

However, the judge made the point that Trump administration officials have “continued their blanket suspension of funds” in recent weeks.

He claimed that the Trump White House had used that time to “come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension.”

Meanwhile, the nonprofits and businesses that used to do business with USAID have warned that, without payment, they could be forced to close.

“The lengths that the government is willing to go to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering”, lawyer Allison Zieve told the Reuters news agency.

She represents the plaintiffs’ organizations, the Journalism Development Network and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s decision to impose a deadline, Judge Ali questioned the Trump administration’s lawyers about whether any efforts had been taken to comply with his initial court order.

Are you aware of an unfreezing of the funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before February 13? “I’m not sure why I can’t get a straight answer from you on this. he asked. Are you aware of the steps that have been taken to actually release those funds?

A lawyer for the Trump administration, Indraneel Sur, answered evasively. “I’m not in a position to answer that”, Sur said.

Source: Aljazeera