District judge calls payment of some of the $2bn owed to partners of USAid and state department ‘concrete’ first step
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to speed up its payment on some of nearly $2bn in debts to partners of the US Agency for International Development (USAid) and the state department, giving it a Monday deadline to repay the non-profit groups and businesses in a lawsuit over the administration’s abrupt shutdown of foreign assistance funding.
The US district judge Amir Ali described the partial payment as a “concrete” first step he wanted to see from the administration, which is fighting multiple lawsuits seeking to roll back the administration’s dismantling of USAid and a six-week freeze on USAid funding, which has forced US-funded organizations to halt aid and development work around the world and lay off workers.