An appeals court lets the Trump administration suspend or end billions in foreign aid
Two of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that grant recipients challenging the freeze did not meet the requirements for a preliminary injunction restoring the flow of money.
In January, on the first day of his second term in the White House, Republican President Trump issued an executive order directing the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to freeze spending on foreign aid.
After groups of grant recipients sued to challenge that order, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered the administration to release the full amount of foreign assistance that Congress had appropriated for the 2024 budget year.
The appeal court's majority partially vacated Ali's order.
Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Gregory Katsas concluded that the plaintiffs did not have a valid legal basis for the court to hear their claims. The ruling was not on the merits of whether the government unconstitutionally infringed on Congress' spending powers.
'The parties also dispute the scope of the district court's remedy but we need not resolve it ... because the grantees have failed to satisfy the requirements for a preliminary injunction in any event,' Henderson wrote.
Judge Florence Pan, who dissented, said the Supreme Court has held 'in no uncertain terms' that the president does not have the authority to disobey laws for policy reasons.
'Yet that is what the majority enables today,' Pan wrote. 'The majority opinion thus misconstrues the separation-of-powers claim brought by the grantees, misapplies precedent, and allows Executive Branch officials to evade judicial review of constitutionally impermissible actions.'
The money at issue includes nearly $4 billion for USAID to spend on global health programs and more than $6 billion for HIV and AIDS programs. Trump has portrayed the foreign aid as wasteful spending that does not align with his foreign policy goals.
Henderson was nominated to the court by Republican President George H.W. Bush. Katsas was nominated by Trump. Pan was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden.
Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
3 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
In Mississippi, one of the neediest states, Trump's federal funding cuts hit with extra heft
Then, in March, EPA terminated the grant 'on the grounds that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Holes puncture the stained glass windows of the chapel on Voice of Calvary Ministries' campus in Jackson, Miss. in July. A $20 million EPA grant was supposed to help renovate the century-old former school building before it was canceled by the Trump administration this spring. Julian Sorapuru/Globe Staff Mississippi, a stronghold of President Trump's political power that he won by more than 20 percentage points in 2024, is also one of the nation's Dominika Parry, founder of the environmental justice nonprofit Advertisement Parry is working without pay as a result of the cut and, months later, she remained baffled by it. 'How is this project wasteful in any way?' she asked. 2C Mississippi is with more than 20 other nonprofits and municipalities that also lost grants. Grant cancellations like the resilience hub have become common in Mississippi and across America since the Trump administration empowered the Department of Government Efficiency, under the early leadership of Elon Musk, to implement sweeping spending cuts and funding freezes that have touched almost every federal agency. In a statement to The Boston Globe, a senior White House official said, 'The Trump administration is committed to ending the Green New Scam and restoring American energy dominance. We will no longer fund 'environmental justice' projects in any state.' Debris from two powerful tornadoes in March was still visible in Walthall County, Miss., in July. FEMA aid to the area was slowed by President Trump's reticence to declare a national emergency. Julian Sorapuru/Globe Staff Mississippi receives Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves recently signed a law that would gradually Advertisement But the potential of declining state revenue coupled with the loss of federal funds has Representative Bennie Thompson — the sole Democrat in Mississippi's congressional delegation — worried. 'One of the neediest states will become even needier,' he predicted. 'There's no cavalry to come to help after the federal government.' So far, Republican state officials have largely supported Trump's policies, including the cuts. Mississippi's attorney general, like her counterparts in other GOP-controlled states, has US Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, a Republican, is anticipating continued support for GOP spending cuts among constituents in his deep red state. 'I really think the majority of citizens in Mississippi are satisfied that we've made judicious savings,' he told the Globe, promising federal dollars would still flow into the state via infrastructure funds and military manufacturing contracts. It's Wicker's smiling face that graces a photo hanging on a wall at Community Students Learning Center in Lexington, a small town separated from Jackson by 63 miles of verdant farmland. One of the senator's hands rests on the shoulder of Beulah Greer, executive director of the center. Wicker signed the photo years ago and inscribed it with a message: 'To my friend Beulah Greer with best wishes.' Advertisement Now, Greer is anxious about the future of her nonprofit, which for over two decades has filled community needs big and small, doing everything from helping residents pay expensive utility bills to offering mental health crisis training to local law enforcement . About 85 percent of her organization's budget currently comes from a Department of Justice program None of their grants have yet been cut, but Greer said they were unable to re-apply for next year's funding cycle since DOJ paused solicitation for the grant for months starting in late January following Trump's inauguration. The disappearance of Community Students Learning Center would have ripple effects in the 1,400-person town where Greer and her husband, Lester, are well known as problem solvers. The organization has completed many successful projects backed by federal grants from agencies ranging from the Department of Education to the Department of Agriculture. The Greers' nonprofit also built five homes in Lexington for purchase at a reduced price as part of a 2010 Department of Housing and Urban Development program for rural areas. 'I had been trying to find a house when somebody told me, 'Go see Beulah and Lester,'' said Lillie Williams, a Lexington resident. That was more than 10 years ago. These days, Williams sits out on her front porch with her nine dogs and enjoys the peaceful woods surrounding her home. Lillie Williams sat on the front porch of her Lexington, Miss., home with two of her nine dogs in July. Williams bought the home over a decade ago from Community Students Learning Center as part of a HUD program selling single family homes in rural areas at a reduced cost. Julian Sorapuru/Globe Staff 'The Bible says to whom much is given, much is required. And I believe what we do is what people ask us to do,' Greer said. Advertisement It's a spirit Greer thinks is currently lacking in her leaders, including Wicker. 'He's working in the political forum, not on what's humanly right,' she said. 'This is hurting his constituents. I feel like he needs to speak up about what's right in his heart.' Greer hopes the Trump administration reconsiders its funding priorities. 'The resources are really squashing the people at the bottom, it's like you're getting mashed,' Greer said. A Trump administration official, she said, should 'come here and look how we're trying to survive, and then you might have a little more compassion.' DOJ did not respond to a request for comment. Mississippi state agencies have also felt the financial effects of federal pullback. The US Department of 'The COVID-19 pandemic is over and the American people have moved on,' the senior White House official told the Globe. 'It's time for the government to move on as well and stop wasting billions in taxpayer dollars.' When the nonprofit lost federal funding through the Mississippi State Department of Health this spring, it was forced to shut down its clinic-on-wheels program that provided sexual health services to medically underserved communities across the state. Advertisement The nonprofit also had to furlough or fire half its staff, according to chief executive June Gipson, due to uncertainty around various other federal grants, such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds that arrived late. They also had a 10-year, $12 million National Institutes of Health grant aimed at Gipson said it was the first time she's had to reduce the organization's workforce since she started leading it more than a decade ago. Even though some of the nonprofit's federal funding remains untouched, Gipson is wary of what's to come. The Mississippi State Department of Health's budget is 66 percent federally funded. 'How do you move forward and trust the federal government at this point?' she asked. Deja Abdul-Haqq, a program director at the nonprofit, who was furloughed until recently, believes 'the entire United States is going to turn into one big Mississippi, riddled with infectious and chronic disease' as a result of the federal government's shifting health funding priorities. The My Brother's Keeper cuts hit close to home for DR, a Jackson resident who has lived with HIV for years and requested anonymity for fear of antigay stigma. He learned he had contracted HIV when he got tested at a state-sponsored STI clinic, known as which is operated by My Brother's Keeper. It was there he met his doctor, Laura Beauchamps. 'She says, 'You now have AIDS.' And Lord knows that's the last thing I wanted to hear,' DR said, his eyes becoming misty. 'She was like, 'It's not the end. We're gonna get you on the medication that you need.'' In the end, DR said, Beauchamps 'was more positive than the virus' and helped save his life physically and emotionally. Today, DR's viral load is so low that it's undetectable and untransmittable. The empathetic, compassionate care DR received at Open Arms is something he hopes other people with HIV get to experience in Mississippi, a state with 'Had it not been for Open Arms, Dr. Beauchamps, and all the other providers, who knows if we would be having this conversation," DR said. 'Or, if I were here, what would my quality of life be like? So, the cuts do not sit right with me. 'The safety net is gone,' he continued. 'If you jump off this ledge thinking that the bungee cord is gonna snap you back up, there is no cord.' Julian E.J. Sorapuru can be reached at
Los Angeles Times
3 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump's missile defense system is nothing but fool's gold
There can be wisdom in cliche. More than 120 years after philosopher George Santayana wrote, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,' his well-known phrase remains an essential guide for national defense. Case in point: The French failed to draw the proper lessons from the brutal trench warfare of World War I and constructed a better, yet still fixed, static defense in the 1930s — the Maginot Line — that was simply bypassed by the Germans on their way to Paris during World War II. It can also be a mistake to learn too much from a recent success, applying those lessons to different circumstances. For example, Israel has been remarkably successful at ballistic missile defense with its 'Iron Dome,' built to defend against short- and medium-range missile attacks from its regional enemies. So President Trump has launched his program to expand current U.S. missile defenses and build a 'Golden Dome' — similar in concept, but designed to defend the entire U.S. against long-range missile attacks. And already, with little national debate, Congress is allocating $38 billion this year toward the estimated $175-billion final cost, to be completed by January 2029 — its timing a parting gift from the president (assuming he leaves the White House on schedule). Is this modern shield a sustainable or wise choice for allocating U.S. defense dollars? It assumes that the Israeli missile defense against threats in its neighborhood can be replicated by the United States — a nation nearly 450 times the size of Israel — against global threats including the world's big boys, Russia and China. That assumption could produce a massively expensive venture, not 'golden' but instead built of fool's gold, with as little thought for the future strategic environment as the French gave to the Maginot Line. The vision of an American public protected from nuclear disaster is alluring — and the threats are real. Ballistic missiles are a clear danger to U.S. allies and bases and our homeland. Russia has hundreds of long-range ballistic missiles that can strike the U.S. within minutes; China is enhancing its arsenal of long-range weapons and has a huge arsenal of shorter-range missiles that could hit Taiwan and other U.S. allies and bases in the Asia-Pacific region. Ominous, yes. But even more important in assessing the Golden Dome is that today's threats are rapidly evolving, beginning with long-range ballistic missiles. These systems traveling at significantly greater speeds are inherently harder to defend against than the threats facing Israel. Russia, China and others are also investing in advanced missiles designed to evade defenses through their trajectory, maneuverability and the deployment of decoys. Shorter-range ballistic missiles too are becoming more capable of evasion. When fired in large groups they can penetrate a significant defense, as Iran did at times during June's 12-day war with Israel. Nor are ballistic missiles the only strategic threat. Witness Ukraine's use of cheap, conventionally armed drones to target Russia's strategic bomber force in a successful surprise attack in May. We should anticipate our adversaries' investing in cheap swarms of lethal drones and other new technologies to bypass our eye-poppingly expensive Golden Dome, like German tanks bypassing the Maginot Line. The design of the Golden Dome defense also remains incomplete. It will reportedly include both ground and space-based interceptors as part of a layered defense. But the details are sketchy and still difficult to assess. U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin says the Golden Dome is 'about connecting a global array of complex systems that need to work at lightning speed and with pinpoint precision at the mission's moment of truth.' That sounds impressive, even intimidating. But the rules of physics, and the offense-defense dynamic, have historically worked against strategic missile defense systems. Incoming weapons must be detected; interceptors must be guided to their targets through swarms of decoys; and the defense at the 'moment of truth' must achieve a near-perfect score against an increasingly lethal array. Imagine a relatively 'small' attack of 100 nuclear-tipped missiles and a Golden Dome that shoots down 80% of the incoming barrage. Pretty good. But that still leaves 20 nuclear warheads capable of destroying 20 American cities — with swarms of undetected nuclear-tipped drones mopping up — and space-bound nuclear detonations devastating civilian and military communications for years. Could any rational American president rely on such a defense in an actual crisis? Also, what if an American president, believing the rhetoric surrounding the Golden Dome, calculated that he or she could achieve American dominance through the threat or actual use of nuclear weapons — without fear of a nuclear response? As we became more isolated from allies and others around the world, the Golden Dome could help enclose us in a kind of gilded cage. Which brings us back to the cost. The Trump administration estimates the Golden Dome's price tag to reach $175 billion. Yet the Congressional Budget Office believes the space-based interceptors alone could cost more than $500 billion — equivalent to half of the annual defense budget. In a new era of federal spending, which will greatly expand our budget deficits while shrinking programs for our citizens most in need, the cost of the Golden Dome is unconscionable. Forty years ago, President Reagan proposed an ambitious, highly complex, missile defense system with space-based interceptors. Reagan's special advisor, Paul Nitze, declared that 'Star Wars' (as the media dubbed it) should be deployed only if the defense were effective, survivable and 'cost effective at the margins' — or in his words: 'They must be cheap enough to add additional defensive capability so that the other side has no incentive to add additional offensive capability to overcome the defense.' The Nitze criteria prevailed: Two successive U.S. administrations recast America's missile defenses to focus on short- and medium-range threats, not the immensely more capable threats from Russia and China. Over time, our missile defenses became more affordable, focused and effective — without the expense of space-based interceptors. The savings were applied to other defense and domestic priorities. And America became stronger still. A good lesson from the past. Steven Andreasen, who served as the National Security Council's staff director for defense policy and arms control from 1993 to 2001, teaches public policy at the University of Minnesota. Anthony Lake was a national security advisor in the Clinton administration.
Los Angeles Times
3 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Republicans look to reverse federal commitment to EVs for the Postal Service
WASHINGTON — A year after being lauded for its plan to replace thousands of aging, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip billions in federal EV funding. In June, the Senate parliamentarian blocked a Republican proposal in President Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill to sell off the agency's new electric vehicles and infrastructure and revoke remaining federal money. But efforts to halt the fleet's shift to clean energy continue in the name of cost savings. Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Assn., said canceling the program now would have the opposite effect, squandering millions of dollars. 'I think it would be shortsighted for Congress to now suddenly decide they're going to try to go backwards and take the money away for the EVs or stop that process, because that's just going to be a bunch of money on infrastructure that's been wasted,' he said. Beyond that, many in the scientific community fear the government could pass on an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming when urgent action is needed. A 2022 University of Michigan study found the new electric postal vehicles could cut total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million tons over the predicted, cumulative 20-year lifetime of the trucks. That's a fraction of the more than 6 billion metric tons emitted annually in the United States, said Professor Gregory A. Keoleian, co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Systems. But he said the push toward electric vehicles is critical and needs to accelerate, given the intensifying effects of climate change. 'We're already falling short of goals for reducing emissions,' Keoleian said. 'We've been making progress, but the actions being taken or proposed will really reverse decarbonization progress that has been made to date.' Many GOP lawmakers share Trump's criticism of the Biden-era green energy push and say the Postal Service spending should focus only on delivering mail. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said that 'it didn't make sense for the Postal Service to invest so heavily in an all-electric force.' She said she will pursue legislation to rescind what is left of the $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act allocated to help cover the $10-billion cost of new postal vehicles. Ernst has called the EV initiative a 'boondoggle' and 'a textbook example of waste,' citing delays, high costs and concerns over cold-weather performance. 'You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate at which the company that's providing those vehicles is able to produce them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract,' Ernst said during a recent appearance at the Iowa State Fair, referring to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense. 'For now,' she added, 'gas-powered vehicles — use some ethanol in them — I think is wonderful.' Corn-based ethanol is a boon to Iowa's farmers, but the effort to reverse course has other Republican support. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), a co-sponsor of the rollback effort, has said the EV order should be canceled because the project 'has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks and skyrocketing costs.' The Postal Service maintains that the production delay of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles was 'very modest' and not unexpected. 'The production quantity ramp-up was planned for and intended to be very gradual in the early months to allow time for potential modest production or supplier issues to be successfully resolved,' spokesperson Kim Frum said. The independent, self-funded federal agency, which is paid for mostly by postage and product sales, is in the middle of a $40-billion, 10-year modernization and financial stabilization plan. The EV effort had the full backing of Democratic President Biden, who pledged to move toward an all-electric federal fleet of car and trucks. The 'Deliver for America' plan calls for modernizing the ground fleet, notably the Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which dates to 1987 and is very fuel-inefficient, at 9 mpg. The vehicles are well past their projected 24-year lifespan and are prone to breakdowns and even fires. 'Our mechanics are miracle workers,' said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. 'The parts are not available. They fabricate them. They do the best they can.' The Postal Service announced in 2022 it would deploy at least 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028, including commercial off-the-shelf models, after years of deliberation and criticism it was moving too slowly to reduce emissions. By 2024, the agency was awarded a Presidential Sustainability Award for its efforts to electrify the largest fleet in the federal government. In 2021, Oshkosh Defense was awarded a contract for up to 165,000 battery electric and internal combustion engine Next Generation vehicles over 10 years. The first of the odd-looking trucks, with hoods resembling a duck's bill, began service in Georgia last year. Designed for greater package capacity, the trucks are equipped with airbags, blind-spot monitoring, collision sensors, 360-degree cameras and antilock brakes. There's also a new creature comfort: air-conditioning. Douglas Lape, special assistant to the president of the National Assn. of Letter Carriers and a former carrier, is among numerous postal employees who have had a say in the new design. He marvels at how Oshkosh designed and built a new vehicle, transforming an old North Carolina warehouse into a factory along the way. 'I was in that building when it was nothing but shelving,' he said. 'And now, being a completely functioning plant where everything is built in-house — they press the bodies in there, they do all of the assembly — it's really amazing, in my opinion.' The agency has so far ordered 51,500 New Generation vehicles, including 35,000 battery-powered vehicles. To date, it has received 300 battery vehicles and 1,000 gas-powered ones. Then-Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in 2022 the agency expected to purchase chiefly zero-emissions delivery vehicles by 2026. It still needs some internal combustion engine vehicles that travel longer distances. Frum, the Postal Service spokesperson, said the planned electric vehicle purchases were 'carefully considered from a business perspective' and are being deployed to routes and facilities where they will save money. The agency has also received more than 8,200 of 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vehicles it has ordered, she said. Ernst said it's fine for the Postal Service to use EVs already purchased. 'But you know what? We need to be smart about the way we are providing services through the federal government,' she said. 'And that was not a smart move.' Maxwell Woody, lead author of the University of Michigan study, made the opposite case. Postal vehicles, he said, have low average speeds and a high number of stops and starts that enable regenerative braking. Routes average under 30 miles and are known in advance, making planning easier. 'It's the perfect application for an electric vehicle,' he said, 'and it's a particularly inefficient application for an internal combustion engine vehicle.' Haigh writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines contributed to this report.
