Foreign Aid

This page catalogs executive orders, federal agency directives, litigation updates and other guidance and information affecting USAID and Department of State and programs funded through those organizations.

Latest News

• Partial Preliminary Injunction granted 3/10/2025 – Prior TRO is no longer in effect.
• March 3-11, 2025 – The Federal Government and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) began sending questionnaires to award recipients including in some cases individual PIs. The questionnaire may include both organizational specific and project specific questions. To date, Purdue has received questionnaires from USDA, Department of State, USAID, CDC and NIFA and they have focused on foreign assistance.  If you receive such a survey, please forward it to spsopers@groups.purdue.edu with a copy to avpsps@purdue.edu.  SPS will coordinate a response with each principal investigator.

Litigation Summary

Global Health Council v. Office of Management and Budget

• February 11, 2025, Complaint seeking to have EO that halted funding for USAID and other federal foreign-assistance programs declared unlawful and unconstitutional and seeking a TRO/Preliminary Injunction while case can be adjudicated on the merits.
• February 13, 2025, Court Order granting TRO in narrow terms than originally requested by plaintiffs.  The Order keeps the EO in place and does not enjoin the government from conducting a review of funding programs, but the Court granted the TRO by temporarily enjoining the government from (a) suspending, pausing or preventing the obligation or disbursement of foreign assistance funding in connection with grants, cooperative agreements, loans or other awards that were in existence as of Jan. 19, 2025; and (b) issuing, implementing, enforcing terminations, suspensions or stop work orders in connection with those awards.
• February 20, 2025, Court Order granting in part and denying in part the plaintiff’s motion to hold defendants in contempt and to enforce TRO.   The Court did not hold defendants in contempt, but granted the motion to enforce the TRO.
• February 25, 2025, Minute Entry and Order granting plaintiff’s emergency motion to enforce the TRO
• March 5, 2025 – TRO in place; Supreme Court allows district court to enforce the Temporary Restraining Order; Ordered district court to determine payment schedule. Stop work orders and terminations were not part of the appeal to the Supreme Court.  Preliminary Injunction Hearing is March 6, 2025 at 2 p.m.
• March 10, 2025 – Order partially granting a preliminary injunction; agencies are enjoined from giving effect terminations, suspensions or stop-work orders issued between January 20, 2025 and February 13, 2025. The court declined to enjoin the government’s subsequent review of contracts and associated terminations of individual contracts pursuant to their provisions. Agencies are also prohibited from unlawful impoundment of congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds.
• Mar. 10, 2025, Memorandum Opinion and Order granting in part and denying in part plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining Marco Rubio, Russell Vought, Dept. of state, USAID, OMB and their agents from “unlawfully impounding congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds and shall make available for obligation the full amount of funds that Congress appropriated for foreign assistance programs in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024.” However, the court declined to enjoin the government’s subsequent review of contracts and associated terminations of individual contracts pursuant to their provisions.  However, the court declined to enjoin the government’s subsequent review of contracts and associated terminations of individual contracts pursuant to their provisions.
• See Mar. 17, 2025, Minute Order requiring government to submit a status report “which includes the updated total number of payments for work completed prior to February 13, 2025, (1) which have been processed since March 10 for Plaintiffs; (2) which have been processed since March 10 for non-Plaintiffs; and (3) which remain to be processed for Plaintiffs and non-Plaintiffs.”  The government also must provide a proposed timeline for processing remaining payments that is “consistent with the Court’s benchmark” (i.e., 300 payments per day).
• See Mar. 19, 2025, Status Report filed by the government detailing number of payments processed for plaintiffs and non-plaintiffs and stating that government was meeting court’s benchmark of processing approximately 300 payments/day.
• Government filed a status report on 3/19/25 stating that total number of payments to plaintiffs processed since Mar. 10, 2025, was 146, and the total number of payments processed to non-plaintiffs since that date was 2,193 (~313/business day). 10,000 payments (plaintiff and non-plaintiff) remain to be processed and defendant anticipates that plaintiffs payments will be processed by Mar. 21 and non-plaintiffs’ by Apr. 29.  Defendant states that incomplete paperwork is delaying some payments.  On Mar. 28, 2025, the Court found that defendants’ timeline for processing payments is consistent with court’s benchmark. 
• On April 1, 2025, the government appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court.
• On April 11, the government filed a motion in the District Court seeking a stay of the preliminary injunction while the case is on appeal and asking for an indicative ruling that the court would dissolve the past-payments provision of the preliminary injunction (i.e., government must pay plaintiffs for work completed prior to February 13, 2025) if the Ct. of Appeals returns the case to the District Court.  The government based their motion on the Supreme Court’s holding in California v. Dept. of Education that the APA’s limited waiver of sovereign immunity did not extend to orders to enforce a contractual obligation to pay money and that jurisdiction for such claims is in the Court of Claims under the Tucker Act.   The plaintiffs did not oppose the stay but they did oppose the indicative ruling.

Global Health Council v. Trump and AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition v. U.S. Dept. of State

• February 26, 2025, Order denying that TRO is appealable, denying mandamus relief, and dismissing motion for an administrative stay.
• February 26, 2025, Application to U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the order issued by the District Court and impose an administrative stay.   The Supreme Court granted the stay and overruled the District Court’s ruling ordering the Trump Admin. to release the foreign aid funding.
• March 5, 2025, Supreme Court denying an administrative stay and requesting District Court to clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order.