Employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development are asking a federal judge on Thursday to keep blocking an effort by President Donald Trump's administration meant to pull all but a fraction of worldwide staffers off the job.

A federal judge in Boston Wednesday is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its federal worker buyout program for the moment.

The argument, made in an affidavit by political appointee and deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco, comes as the administration confronts a lawsuit by two groups representing federal employees. USAID staffers deny insubordination and call the accusation a pretext to break up the more than 60-year-old agency,

A federal appeals court on Tuesday declined to temporarily block a lower court’s orders directing the Trump administration to unfreeze federal grants. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit noted that Trump’s Justice Department already requested a pause from U.