Key Updates
Related Thought Leadership and Analysis
- Unleashing Uncertainty: President Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze
by Susan H. Lent, Angela B. Styles, Christopher A. Treanor, Shariff N. Barakat, Sarah B. W. Kirwin, Erin Magoffie
Summary
It is the policy of United States that no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States. A 90-day pause will be implemented in United States foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy. Furthermore, each department and agency must review relevant foreign assistance programs and make determinations on their continuation. New obligations and disbursements of foreign development assistance funds may resume for a program prior to the end of the 90-day period if a review is conducted, and the Secretary of State or his designee, in consultation with the Director of OMB, decide to continue the program in the same or modified form.
Legal Challenges
| Date Complaint Filed | February 6, 2025 |
| Venue | United States District Court for the District of Columbia |
| Summary |
Plaintiffs, the American Foreign Service and the American Federation of Government Employees, sued Defendants President Trump, the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Secretary of State Rubio, and Secretary of Treasury Bessent, arguing Exec. Order 14169 to dissolve USAID or merge it with the State Department are unconstitutional violations of the separation of powers and the Take Care Clause; and unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act by exceeding statutory authority, violating the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, and involving arbitrary and capricious abuses of discretion. Plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment that the Exec. Order and administration’s actions are unlawful and unconstitutional; and a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction directing the administration to halt efforts to shut down the agency. Plaintiffs seek appointment of an independent administrator, restoration of grant funding, a recall of all furlough notices, and the end of efforts to place more employees on administrative leave. Plaintiffs also seek court supervision and a permanent injunction barring any further action to dissolve USAID absent Congressional authorization. |
| Case Updates |
Following a hearing, on February 7, 2025, Judge Carl J. Nichols issued a temporary restraining order preventing USAID from placing employees on administrative leave or evacuating them from their host countries until February 14, 2025. Judge Nichols denied Plaintiffs’ request for an order on the funding freeze, concluding the Plaintiffs had not met their burden to show harm to themselves. On February 13, 2025, the Plaintiffs amended their complaint to add Plaintiff Oxfam America. Also on February 13, following an in-person hearing on Plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction, Judge Nichols modified the TRO to (1) extend it by one week until February 21, and (2) amended a statement regarding evacuated employees to state that “[n]o USAID employees shall be involuntarily evacuated from their host countries” while the TRO is in place. Judge Nichols ordered the government to submit supplemental facts by February 14, 2025. |
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