Judge orders Trump administration to temporarily restore funding for foreign assistance programs

Washington — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate funding for foreign aid contracts and other awards while litigation moves forward, delivering yet another setback for the president as he seeks to make sweeping changes to the federal government.  

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali partially granted a request for a temporary restraining order from a group of organizations that receive funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, and other agencies, but have since been cut off from federal dollars or had to suspend their work in the wake of Mr. Trump's executive action ordering a 90-day pause on foreign development aid.

The nonprofit organizations argued that Mr. Trump's directive and a subsequent memorandum from Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued late last month, which temporarily stopped new obligations of funding for foreign assistance programs and called for stop-work orders, was an unlawful and unconstitutional exercise of executive power.