The Department of Justice said this week it was “expeditiously” making available nearly $95 million in congressionally approved funding for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), following a federal court ruling that the Trump administration’s withholding of the money violated federal law.
“All $94,941,000 of the remaining funding…are now available for obligation and DRL [Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor] will work expeditiously to obligate and disburse those funds to NED through a grant consistent with applicable law,” read the defendants’ status report signed by Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate on Wednesday.
Newsweek has contacted the DOJ and NED for comment via email outside of regular office hours.
Why It Matters
The ruling highlights a core constitutional dispute over Congress‘s “power of the purse” and the limits of presidential authority to withhold funds after they have been appropriated. By finding that the Trump administration withheld money from the National Endowment for Democracy for policy reasons barred by statute, the decision reinforces restrictions on executive “impoundment” powers and clarifies that such conditions cannot be imposed outside the law.
The withheld funding supports election monitoring, independent media and other pro-democracy programs abroad.
What To Know
The statement comes days after U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was appointed to the bench by Donald Trump in 2017, granted a preliminary injunction ordering the government to stop withholding the funds.
In a 15-page opinion issued on Monday, Friedrich said that the administration had likely violated the National Endowment for Democracy Act by conditioning disbursement on whether NED’s activities aligned with “Administration priorities.”
“The defendants are withholding funding for impermissible policy reasons,” Friedrich wrote, citing internal documents that described subjecting the money to “review for alignment” with White House objectives.
The court also rejected the administration’s argument that reserving the funds for the next fiscal year would ensure the organization’s financial stability, calling the rationale “not plausible” in light of repeated delays, abandoned waiver requirements, and other obstacles.
The court noted that the withholding affected 226 approved grants, 124 grants recommended for approval by NED’s board, and 53 “core institute” projects. Friedrich wrote that these activities—such as election monitoring, countering authoritarian censorship and supporting access to independent news—had been determined by NED and Congress to be “important and time-sensitive” to the organization’s mission.
The ruling is one of several recent setbacks for the White House in cases challenging the withholding of congressionally approved funds. The Government Accountability Office, the legislative branch’s nonpartisan watchdog, has issued multiple opinions in recent weeks finding that the administration violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law restricting the executive’s ability to withhold appropriated funds without congressional approval.
What Is NED?
NED, a private nonprofit created in 1983 to support democratic institutions abroad, receives an annual grant through the State Department.
For fiscal year 2025, Congress approved $315 million in funds for the organization—appropriations that remain available until spent. According to court filings, NED typically receives the full amount in the year of appropriation, but beginning in January 2025, the administration began blocking access to tens of millions of dollars, leading to furloughs, canceled grants, and halted projects.
The administration has asserted that its approach is consistent with the Antideficiency Act, which allows the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to apportion certain funds to achieve “the most effective and economical use” of appropriations.
Friedrich rejected that argument, writing that the provision “does not alter the substantive obligations imposed by other statutes on the expenditure of funds” and cannot be used to impose extra-statutory conditions.
What People Are Saying
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich emphasized that the court was not deciding whether NED must receive its full appropriation in the same fiscal year in every circumstance. Rather, she concluded that withholding the funds in this instance—because NED’s projects did not match the executive’s policy priorities—was unlawful.
“The government cannot suffer harm from an injunction that merely ends an unlawful practice,” Friedrich wrote.
OMB Director Russ Vought, in a May 2 letter to Senate appropriators, urged lawmakers to eliminate NED funding entirely in fiscal year 2026, saying: “Around that time… OMB urged the Senate to entirely defund the Endowment because of its alleged support of media organizations critical of the President and his allies.” The judge pointed to this as evidence that political considerations were driving the withholding.
Peter Roskam, a former Republican congressman who chairs the NED, previously told The New York Times the lawsuit was a last resort after months of unsuccessful attempts to secure the funding. “We’d be delighted to learn that this was just an oversight and someone just forgot to hit the send button,” Roskam said. “But clearly that’s not what’s going on.”
What Happens Next
Following the court’s order, the Justice Department is releasing the near $95 million withheld from the National Endowment for Democracy.
The Trump administration may still appeal to the D.C. Circuit, but the judge denied its request for a stay pending appeal, meaning the injunction will remain in effect and the funds will be released during any appellate proceedings.
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