Overview

• In a 2-1 decision on Aug. 13, the D.C. Circuit reversed a district court injunction and permitted the administration to withhold billions in congressionally approved foreign assistance.
• Judge Karen L. Henderson’s majority opinion held that grant recipients have no cause of action under the Administrative Procedure Act and that the Impoundment Control Act precludes their suits, vesting enforcement solely with the Comptroller General.
• The ruling clears the way to suspend roughly $2 billion in fiscal-year 2024 payments, amid broader USAID program budgets of nearly $4 billion for global health and over $6 billion for HIV/AIDS.
• By resolving only procedural standing, the panel left open whether the freeze violates the Constitution’s spending powers, ensuring that separation-of-powers claims remain unsettled.
• Aid groups plan en banc and Supreme Court appeals, and Congress along with the GAO are exploring oversight and statutory enforcement under the Impoundment Control Act.