A federal judge on Thursday extended for another week the pause on the Trump administration’s plan to require thousands of employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to comply, as he reviews a lawsuit filed by unions over the matter.
Washington Judge Carl Nichols stated during a hearing that he was concerned about the safety of USAID employees stationed abroad.
He did not rule on the unions’ appeal for a broader and longer-term order that would stop aggressive cuts to the operations of the agency that provides aid to foreign countries.
Hours after his inauguration on January 20, President Donald Trump ordered a halt to all U.S. assistance to foreign countries to ensure it aligned with his “America First” policy. The measure caused chaos within USAID, the primary U.S. agency that provides foreign aid.
Following the signing of the executive order, the State Department issued directives to halt operations, also suspending aid programs that had been saving lives around the world, with limited exceptions that included urgent food deliveries. /VOA/
