A United States federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot single-handedly slash billions of dollars of foreign aid appropriated by the US Congress.
In Wednesday’s decision, District Judge Amir Ali in Washington ruled that the White House cannot withhold about $4bn in funds approved by Congress for foreign assistance through international assistance agencies such as USAID.
“Whatever the reason, Defendants have given no justification to displace the bedrock expectation that Congress’s appropriations must be followed,” Ali wrote.
The ruling is the latest development in a series of legal battles centred on the Trump administration’s efforts to wield expansive authority in areas such as foreign assistance, which the White House has moved to dramatically slash. Some of those efforts have been criticised as part of a larger trend of illegal executive overreach.
Last week, the Trump administration sought to cancel billions of dollars in funding dispensed by Congress through a mechanism known as pocket rescission that would allow the funds to go unspent. The White House previously stated that the manoeuvre was last used in 1977, nearly 50 years ago.
Ali ruled that the White House must make the funds available before September 30 unless Congress specifically approves the move to rescind the funds, originally designated for the Department of State and USAID, an international assistance agency that has been gutted by the administration.
The government could move to appeal the ruling, and appeals courts have shot down similar rulings challenging the administration’s authority to take such unilateral steps in recent weeks.
