WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration appealed to the Supreme Court again on Wednesday in its bid to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid funding frozen.
The Justice Department asked for quick intervention to halt lower court decisions requiring the money to keep flowing, including for global health and HIV and AIDS programs.
The justices rebuffed the Trump administration on the issue earlier this year, but the court was divided 5-4.
The Republican administration says the funding at issue includes about $12 billion that would need to be spent by Sept. 30 if the lower court orders remain in place.
Trump has portrayed the foreign aid as wasteful spending that does not align with his foreign policy goals.
A divided three-judge panel of the appeals court in Washington sided with the administration earlier this month, but the full court declined to immediately stop the money flowing.
Nonprofit organizations that sued the government have said the funding freeze breaks federal law and has shut down funding for even the most urgent lifesaving programs abroad.
