Let’s try this again [image: USAID-branded pallets of humanitarian aid.] <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POp_Hs-eLlqXZ5H-RoYoukth3mwLfJzyDVhSNa7ba6PCCPYejJN2za3DrU4WfPUPXuJKG7dDQNRppdU1yZD3CxdMvYyvS7j9fFArB87ZEos3RA_RmGi7H81HSGvSELkyMQnNe73lswPCV_WvuobduEmS3upW-75VW2kCERYEVqOMav6C1KZnGH4B_FUItD0ax6hPJ0aqMD0NLa4diroeiES42Vt2gQ6YXZSRT463S5sd5qv_OSy5_tcFPZGjAL5oeUA==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGYx15_q8rmEppOfm-4enZ-07ZU0SrFywJBdDr5Na0c-niDgUmW0TITioKeX7vCzPgnJbdB3fM=> On Feb. 13, a U.S. federal court issued a temporary restraining order requiring the Trump administration to lift its blanket freeze on foreign assistance funding for existing projects. Last night, it extended that order <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POp_Hs-eLlqXZ5H-RoYoukth3mwLfJzyDVhSNa7ba6PCCPYejJN2za3DrU4WfPUPXuJKG7dDQNRppdU1yZD3CxdMvYyvS7j9fFArB87ZEos3RA_RmGi7H81HSGvSELkyMQnNe73lswPCV_WvuobduEmS3upW-75VW2kCERYEVqOMav6C1KZnGH4B_FUItD0ax6hPJ0aqMD0NLa4diroeiES42Vt2gQ6YXZSRT463S5sd5qa4j-Bu5rTu3BfvKETkgXw==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGYx15_q8rmEppOfm-4enZ-07ZU0SrFywJBdDr5Na0c-niDgUmW0TITioKeX7vCzPgnJbdB3fM=> and stressed that *the administration needed to get the money flowing again*, which it has largely refused to do <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POlJNH-zgYN4uLQ2vyaWxF-yOJIQlX2cxAWTLJ_Tt0XQ0OhRBqI9_AI4In2LA9-70GxhQmfjUi5C9Gd6GdBBtiVXw6_7xwAFjoSEesz2lwow7Wdfy019hyQgyFztlXcm56gP0LqPzxS1creppPlGD75oHi8IeBxk-_hBNlC1UmC-T-uogmIG94cY3Oo9VQeOvBhnsY6W08PJl9JgcRV03SCs96HgjzCKppICqLQLpA1ls3F6TyLvvWsosdDSfgiO2zA==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGYx15_q8rmEppOfm-4enZ-07ZU0SrFywJBdDr5Na0c-niDgUmW0TITioKeX7vCzPgnJbdB3fM=> . The administration had claimed it could terminate nearly all USAID <https://t.devex.com/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGYx15_qxjPZfFZ6NGp9yOhKblMBMU7SBf34zkzXImH5JO6-Kf69c8iAt3I7lN_Euc1KMvwi94=> contracts and grants because the judge’s original order stated that normal contract clauses can still be enforced. But in the most recent hearing, Judge Amir Ali *pushed back on that assertion*. “The Court was not inviting Defendants to continue the suspension while they reviewed contracts and legal authorities to come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension,” he stated. But the judge *didn’t find the government in contempt*, which was what the plaintiffs in the case — including for-profit contractors and NGOs — had been seeking. Instead, Ali *extended the temporary restraining order until midnight on March 10*, 2025. Though his earlier reversal hasn’t yet resulted in the thaw of Trump’s funding freeze, this latest order is clear: The administration cannot “simply replace their earlier implementations with ‘other directives’” to suspend, pause, or terminate obligated funds. *Read:* Court extends order lifting Trump administration's foreign aid freeze <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POp_Hs-eLlqXZ5H-RoYoukth3mwLfJzyDVhSNa7ba6PCCPYejJN2za3DrU4WfPUPXuJKG7dDQNRppdU1yZD3CxdMvYyvS7j9fFArB87ZEos3RA_RmGi7H81HSGvSELkyMQnNe73lswPCV_WvuobduEmS3upW-75VW2kCERYEVqOMav6C1KZnGH4B_FUItD0ax6hPJ0aqMD0NLa4diroeiES42Vt2gQ6YXZSRT463S5sd532QbzG7qdgN9KQADH58XrA==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGYx15_q8rmEppOfm-4enZ-07ZU0SrFywJBdDr5Na0c-niDgUmW0TITioKeX7vCzPgnJbdB3fM=>