US appeals court lets Trump cut billions in foreign aid

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By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Wednesday lifted an injunction that required the U.S. State Department to continue making foreign aid payments, handing a victory to President Donald Trump.

In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said a lower court erred by ordering the Trump administration to restore foreign assistance payments previously approved by Congress.

Trump imposed a 90-day pause on all foreign aid on January 20, the same day he was inaugurated for a second term in the White House. His executive order was followed by aggressive moves to gut USAID, the main U.S. foreign aid agency, including by placing much of its staff on leave and exploring bringing the formerly independent agency under the State Department.

Two nonprofit groups that receive federal funding, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network, brought litigation alleging Trump’s funding freeze was unlawful.

 U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, ordered the Trump administration to pay nearly $2 billion in outstanding aid to its humanitarian partners worldwide.

Writing for the two-judge majority, Circuit Judge Karen Henderson said the nonprofit groups “lack a cause of action to press their claims” and therefore failed to satisfy the requirements for an injunction.

Henderson wrote that only the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, could challenge the president’s efforts to withhold foreign aid funding.

Henderson, who was appointed to the appeals court by President George H.W. Bush, said the court was not addressing the question of whether Trump’s foreign aid freeze violated the U.S. Constitution by infringing on the spending power of Congress.

Henderson’s opinion was joined by Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee.

Circuit Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, wrote in a dissenting opinion that her colleagues were allowing the Trump administration to disregard federal law and the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution.

“The court’s acquiescence in and facilitation of the Executive’s unlawful behavior derails the carefully crafted system of checked and balanced power that serves as the greatest security against tyranny – the accumulation of excessive authority in a single Branch,” Pan wrote.

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget, the White House’s budget office, said the ruling stops “radical left dark money groups” from “maliciously interfering with the president’s ability to spend responsibly and to administer foreign aid in a lawful manner in alignment with his America First policies.”

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Mark Porter, Deepa Babington, Paul Simao)