Trump administration on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to withhold billions in foreign aid funds. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
The Trump administration on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to halt a lower court’s order directing the federal government to disburse billions of dollars in foreign aid.
The Justice Department filed an application with the high court Tuesday evening seeking a stay to a U.S. district judge’s ruling. the order directed the Trump administration to disburse about $12 billion in Congress-approved foreign aid funds before they expire with the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, and to continue paying out billions in foreign aid, despite the president’s foreign policy goals.
The solicitor general, John Sauer, argues in the filing that unless the court grants the relief the administration seeks, the United States will be subjected to irreparable harm, including backtracking on negotiations with foreign countries about the future of the involved aid programs.
Sauer continues that by permitting the lower court’s ruling, a “blueprint” will have been created for any prospective recipient of federal funds to circumvent the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, which stipulates Congress’ review of executive branch withholding of Congress-approved funds.
“Any lingering dispute about the proper disposition of funds that the president seeks to rescind shortly before they expire should be left to the political branches, not effectively prejudged by the district court,” Sauer said, adding, “The executive branch has an overriding interest in ensuring that the obligation and expenditure of foreign-aid funds aligns with foreign policy and the national interests.”
Trump on Jan. 20, his first day in office, signed an executive order instituting a pause on “new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries,” which was followed by the State Department halting all U.S. foreign assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In February, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition sued the Trump administration over the freezing of the funds, describing it as an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’ power of the purse.
District Judge Amir Ali granted AVAC a temporary restraining order that directed the Trump administration to reinstate foreign aid funding.
Then earlier this month a divided appeals court ruled 2-1 in the Trump administration’s favor in the protracted litigation, stating only the comptroller general of Congress — and not fund recipients — can sue over executive branch impoundments, as dictated by the 1974 Impoundment Control Act.
The district court’s ruling, now being challenged at the Supreme Court, remains in effect as the coalition of foreign aid fund recipients has asked the full bench for a decision, which has yet to be issued.
Sauer has asked the Supreme Court to block the district court’s ruling by Sept. 2, after which the government would incur “irreparable diplomatic costs and generate needless inter-branch friction.”
