Groups working with USAID say the government still has not paid what it owes for their work [View all]
Source: Scripps News
Posted 9:31 PM, Mar 11, 2025 and last updated 9:33 PM, Mar 11, 2025
On a Thursday evening in Washington, D.C. more than a dozen lawyers sat inside a courtroom at the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House for hearing in front of Judge Amir H. Ali. After a four-hour long proceeding, judge Ali issued a directive. The federal government had four days to pay plaintiff organizations that had sued the federal government for money they say they were owned. Organizations say they were owed a combined $2 billion for work that had already been completed.
The story began when the Trump administration announced an executive order with the intended goal of dismantling the United States Agency for International Aid, or USAID, an organization that focuses on humanitarian aid around the globe. The administration expressed concerns about how U.S. dollars were being spent abroad. The administration said it reserved the right to review, then cut-off spending in cases it deems fit.
But several organizations that worked directly with USAID sued. They argued in court that the abrupt closure of programs and cut in funding caused irreparable harm to workers and vulnerable people who relied on their services. The organizations also petitioned a court to force the federal government to pay those organizations for work they’d already completed, but did not receive payments for.
On that Thursday evening inside the federal courthouse, the petitioners got their wish, and Judge Ali gave the federal government an order: All payments for work that organizations completed prior to February 13, 2025, must be paid by March 10, 2025 at 6 p.m. But the deadline has come and gone, and while some organizations have received sizable payments from the federal government, Scripps News has learned other organizations have received little or no money at all.
Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/president-trumps-first-100-days/groups-working-with-usaid-say-the-government-still-has-not-paid-what-it-owes-for-their-work
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