February 13, 2025
This evening, a federal district court granted our motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Trump administration’s wholesale freeze on foreign assistance funding. The order lifts the freeze and restores funding while our lawsuit against the administration moves forward.
The court order directs the administration not to suspend, pause, or otherwise prevent the obligation or disbursement of appropriated foreign-assistance funds in connection with any contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, or other federal foreign assistance award that was in existence as of January 19, 2025. It also bars the administration from issuing, implementing, enforcing, or otherwise giving effect to terminations, suspensions, or stop-work orders in connection with any contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, or other federal foreign assistance award that was in existence as of January 19, 2025.
“This order is not just an enormous victory for our clients. It is a victory for the world,” said Lauren Bateman, a lawyer at Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on the case. “Life-saving humanitarian work can resume, and thousands of American jobs will be saved. It is not hyperbole to say that this order saves lives.”
“The freeze on foreign assistance funding is illegal and it is imperative that funding be restored,” said a JDN spokesperson. “For decades, the State Department and USAID support has helped journalists in some of the world’s most repressive and corrupt regimes stay independent of the state and ruling oligarchs. The public has benefited enormously from that work.”
“This decision represents a pivotal moment for HIV prevention and global health equity,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC Executive Director. “The Administration has a responsibility to end this massive disruption and harm to work that is essential to global health and national security. Foreign assistance programs don’t operate with an on/off switch, and any changes or modification should be made strategically, not in a chaotic manner that jeopardizes human health, life, and safety and security.”