By Dave Mason | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – A federal judge Thursday blocked the Trump administration from freezing up to $3 trillion in funding for federal agency grants, loans and other financial assistance.
Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted a preliminary injunction that was requested by attorneys general for 22 states and the District of Columbia.
The attorneys general sued the Trump administration Jan. 28 to prevent the funding freeze.
McConnell’s ruling extends a previous block that the federal court imposed with a temporary restraining order on Jan. 31.
In his written decision, McConnell accused the executive branch of placing itself above Congress, an equal branch of government.
The Trump administration can only take actions on funding if it’s authorized to do so by laws passed by Congress, McConnell said.
“The Executive’s categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,” the judge wrote.
McConnell’s ruling was praised by the attorneys general in the suit, which was led by New York Attorney General Letia James.
Other plaintiffs are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
The prosecutors have accused the Trump administration of acting illegally and recklessly by imposing the cuts, which they noted in statements Thursday would have affected everything from community health centers to schools and resources for firefighters.
“Last month, the Trump administration chaotically implemented a sweeping federal funding freeze, halting access to billions of dollars in funds lawfully appropriated by Congress,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “In doing so, it willfully ignored the immediate devastation a freeze would have on the health, safety and wellbeing of communities and businesses across the country.”
Bonta called McConnell’s ruling “an important victory for the rule of law and for the many programs throughout our state that rely on federal funding to carry out their mission.”
He vowed the attorneys general would continue to work to get a permanent ruling against the federal funding freeze.
California this year is expected to receive $168 billion in federal funding, or 34% of the state’s budget, according to Bonta’s office. That includes $107.5 billion in California’s Medicaid programs, which serve about 14.5 million Californians, including 5 million children and 2.3 million seniors and people with disabilities.
More than 9,000 full-time equivalent state jobs are federally funded in California, Bonta’s office said.
The Trump administration’s freeze on funding could have affected California’s law enforcement, public safety, critical transportation infrastructure, water quality and workplace health and safety, according to Bonta’s office. The attorney general’s staff also cited Head Start, education services for students with disabilities and research projects at state universities as programs that depend on federal funding.
In Arizona, Attorney General Kim Mayes called the preliminary injunction a victory for her state’s residents.
“I won’t stand by while the Trump administration puts itself above Congress and withholds resources that families, public safety and health care providers depend on,” Mayes said.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said his state would have been devastated by federal cuts to everything from lifesaving health care to resources for firefighters.
Thursday’s preliminary injunction against the funding freeze was the second one issued by a federal judge. The first such injunction was imposed last month by U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in another lawsuit in Washington, D.C. That suit was filed by a group of nonprofits.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
An explosion likely caused by solid fuel used for ballistic missiles killed at least 14 and injured some 750 people at Iran’s biggest port, Worthy News learned.
In a move that the late Pope Francis would have welcomed, U.S. President Donald J. Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to have overcome animosity by talking for about 15 minutes about the prospects for ending the more than three-year Ukraine-Russia war.
Tensions between nuclear-armed powers India and Pakistan rapidly escalated Friday with forces from both nations firing across their highly militarized frontier in Kashmir following a deadly attack that killed scores of tourists in the disputed Himalayan region.
A new report warned Thursday that the Netherlands faces an “antisemitism crisis,” with the number of attacks targeting Jews increasing to record levels.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump issued a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin as Moscow killed at least 12 people and injured 90 others in a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital early Thursday.
Femke Halsema has become Amsterdam’s first mayor to formally apologize for her city’s role in the Holocaust.
Democratic campaign contribution platform ActBlue is the target of President Donald’s Trump’s latest memorandum after Congressional committees reported evidence it found that ActBlue was used to circumvent campaign finance laws.