US appeals court says Trump can slash billions in owed USAID funds

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can slash up to roughly $2 billion in foreign aid payments that it halted earlier this year, delivering a victory to the Trump administration months after President Donald Trump sought to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 to reverse a lower court's decision that ordered the Trump administration to resume paying out the nearly $2 billion in USAID funding that had previously been approved by Congress. 

Writing for the majority, Judge Karen L. Henderson, a Bush appointee, said that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to sue the Trump administration over its decision to withhold the funds.

TRUMP TEMPORARILY THWARTED IN DOGE MISSION TO END USAID

The plaintiffs, she said, "may not bring a freestanding constitutional claim if the underlying alleged violation and claimed authority are statutory." She was joined in the majority opinion by Judge Greg Katsas, a Trump appointee.

"Nor do the grantees have a cause of action under the APA because APA review is precluded by the Impoundment Control Act (ICA)," she added. 

"And the grantees may not reframe this fundamentally statutory dispute as an ultra vires claim either. Instead, the Comptroller General may bring suit as authorized by the ICA." 

The decision is a victory for Trump, who moved to dismantle USAID and other foreign spending almost immediately after he was sworn in to his second White House term. 

That decision sparked the ire of foreign aid groups and other recipients of the assistance, who quickly sued over the frozen payments, and argued that the quick dismantling of them risked "immediate and irreparable harm."

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.