By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) -A federal judge on Monday declined to order President Donald Trump’s administration to restore thousands of foreign aid contracts and grants that have been canceled since the president took office, though he found that the administration must speed up payments of close to $2 billion for already completed work.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington is a setback for organizations that contract with or receive grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, and are suing the administration over its sudden freeze in January of nearly all of its foreign aid payments and subsequent termination of most of its agreements with third-party partners.
At the same time, Ali ruled against the Trump administration on a major legal issue, finding that the president cannot refuse to spend money appropriated by the U.S. Congress.
The judge said that all of the appropriated foreign aid funding must ultimately be disbursed, while concluding that he could not dictate exactly how.
The White House, State Department and lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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