First such decision in the US: court orders Trump to restore USAID funding

In the United States, a court overturned President Donald Trump's executive order freezing funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and ordered its resumption. This was the first decision related to the suspension of funding for foreign aid programs for 90 days in the United States.

According to the Associated Press, the ruling was made by federal judge Amir Ali at the request of two organizations: the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council. The judge accused Trump of causing "extensive damage" to foreign organizations.

However, the judge believed that the White House had not explained why a complete halt to aid was the only option to reconsider the appropriateness of the funding. In addition, the court did not see sufficient "rational reasons to ignore... the countless small and large businesses that will have to close programs or close their businesses altogether."

The ruling also prohibits Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump administration officials from issuing orders to limit aid to foreign projects. The judge's decision applies only to contracts that were in effect before January 20, when Trump signed the executive order freezing foreign aid.

Judge Ali also rejected the Trump administration's arguments that the funding freeze could be neutralized by allowing funding for only certain programs. At the same time, he rejected the motion to overturn Trump's decree in general, limiting himself to a temporary injunction until its implementation.

Earlier, the media reported that Democrats in the US Congress were concerned about Trump's decision to terminate USAID as an independent agency and transfer it to the State Department. They noted that the president does not have the authority to eliminate an organization funded by Congress.

What is happening to USAID and its program funding

Immediately after his inauguration, Donald Trump froze USAID funding for 90 days to conduct an audit. Accordingly, payments for all agency programs, except for "critical humanitarian missions," were suspended. Against this background, about a hundred employees were sent on unpaid leave or fired. It was officially reported that the agency had been absorbed by the State Department.

At the same time, Elon Musk, a billionaire and Trump ally, head of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), even announced the closure of USAID. Thus, on February 3, Musk said that the US administration is "in the process of closing USAID". "We are closing it down," CNN quoted Musk as saying.

The billionaire then emphasized that Trump "fully supports" the closure of USAID. According to the billionaire, he asked several times whether the head of state was really sure of this decision. "On USAID, we discussed it in detail and he agreed that we should close it," Musk said.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, in 2023-2024, Ukraine received $23.15 billion under USAID programs, and last year there were 39 USAID programs in Ukraine. In particular, government agencies, NGOs, charitable foundations, and the media received money for USAID programs under various projects.

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