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Thursday, March 06, 2025 4:24:07 PM
Judge Blocks Trump’s Funding Freeze, Saying White House Put Itself ‘Above Congress’
"A second federal judge has ruled to block the Trump administration's spending freeze"
There is some different here.
The judge had already ruled that the administration was not complying with his previous order requiring the government to keep disbursing money to states.
A memo from the White House budget office had demanded a pause on billions in grants until the administration could determine that the funding complied with President Trump’s priorities. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
By Zach Montague
Reporting from Washington
March 6, 2025Updated 3:20 p.m. ET
All links
A federal judge on Thursday extended an order that prevented the Trump administration from freezing billions in congressionally approved funds to 22 states and the District of Columbia. The judge found that the administration had overstepped in trying to stop the agencies from using money appropriated by Congress.
The ruling, which builds on the judge’s temporary order instructing the government to keep disbursing the funds, sets up a broader clash between Democratic states over the Trump administration’s efforts to align spending with the president’s agenda.
In an opinion handed down on Thursday morning, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island, said the case amounted to executive overreach.
“Here, the executive put itself above Congress,” he wrote. “It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.”
A memo from the White House budget office had demanded a pause on billions in grants until the administration could determine that the funding complied with Mr. Trump’s priorities,
Insert: You see, again, DOGE and and other actions of the Trump administration are not - repeat NOT - basically about cutting wasteful spending, that's an incidental along the way thing. The pauses, the cuts et al are all about stopping expenditure, where they possibly can, on causes which they ideologically oppose. Like inclusive education. Like teaching children of the real history of much of America. Like environmental causes. Like causes to help individuals to be more happy in their own skin. Like abortion.
They are not primarily interested in cutting wasteful spending. Repeat it as you would always repeat the truth.
setting off days of confusion and alarm. A coalition of the states’ attorneys general quickly sued. In their challenge, they pointed to specific examples of how critical funding from agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Environmental Protection Agency could leave states stranded in an emergency, unable to provide such vital services as clean water.
Judge McConnell, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said that the directive from the budget office “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government” and that without his action, “the funding that the states are due and owed creates an indefinite limbo.”
The order on Thursday was aimed at all the federal agencies cited in the memo from the budget office. It directs them to refrain from “pausing, freezing, blocking, canceling, suspending, terminating or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to the States under awarded grants, executed contracts or other executed financial obligations.”
Judge McConnell also noted that the government still appeared to be defying his earlier temporary order.
The White House budget office memo had indicated that funds would be halted to give the Trump administration time to eliminate spending in line with political goals such as “terminating the Green New Deal” and “pausing funding programs relating to ‘removable or illegal aliens.’”
“The Trump administration’s illegal funding freeze jeopardized law enforcement funding, essential health care and child care services and other critical programs that millions of Americans rely on,” Letitia James, the attorney general of New York who helped lead the lawsuit, said after the ruling.
The case has unfolded similarly to other lawsuits accusing the government of similarly tying up foreign aid and grants to charities and other nongovernmental organizations.
In those cases, beneficiaries of U.S. assistance have claimed that the administration arbitrarily held up funding they rely on, causing weeks of confusion and disrupting their work. Later on Thursday, a Federal District Court judge is expected to hear updates in a case involving the Trump administration’s freeze on aid to various global health organizations .. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/us/politics/foreign-aid-supreme-court-trump.html .
At the heart of the challenges is the question of a president’s authority .. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/us/politics/trump-federal-grants-loans-power.html .. to unilaterally freeze funds appropriated by Congress under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Mr. Trump has said he wants the Supreme Court to strike down that law, affording him greater control of federal spending.
[Note April, 2024 - Trump now sees an election on his highway. That's why now he is saying Ukraine is worthy of American aid.
[...] Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own
policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. OMB withheld funds
for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA).
The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB
violated the ICA.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174285983
February, 2025 - Trump’s disregard for US constitution ‘a blitzkrieg on the law’, legal experts say
[...]Tribe said the so-called pause in federal spending that the Trump administration ordered last Monday “was a clear usurpation of a coordinate branch’s [Congress’s] exclusive power of the purse”.
P - Before the Trump administration rescinded the freeze two days later, several groups had sued to stop the freeze, saying Trump had violated the constitution and the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which lets presidents withhold funds in limited circumstances, but only if they first follow several special procedures – which legal experts said Trump failed to do'
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=175747413]
In his order on Thursday, Judge McConnell appeared to agree with the attorneys general that the uncertainty caused by the Trump administration’s actions could leave the states exposed, for instance if a state were unable to reliably access FEMA funding in the event of a natural disaster.
“In an evident and acute harm, with floods and fires wreaking havoc across the country, federal funding for emergency management and preparedness would be impacted,” he wrote.
Judge McConnell directed FEMA to detail steps it had taken to make funds available in a status report due on March 14.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the U.S. Department of Education, the White House and federal courts. More about Zach Montague
See more on: Donald Trump, U.S. Politics
The Trump Administration’s First 100 Days
* The Panama Canal: An investor group led by BlackRock will acquire two ports near the Panama Canal that are owned by CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong conglomerate, and that have been the subject of a dispute between President Trump and Panama.
* Foreign Aid to Resume: The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s emergency request to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid as part of his efforts to slash government spending.
* Federal Properties: The Trump administration identified more than 440 federal properties that could be sold off. By the next morning, the entire inventory had been taken down, replaced by an agency web page that said the list of properties was “coming soon.”
* National Security: The senior Democrats on the Senate and House national security panels issued a scathing statement before the president’s speech to Congress ..
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/us/politics/national-security-democrats-trump-musk.html .
* Work Force Overhaul: Veterans, who make up a disproportionate share of federal employees, are feeling the brunt of the Trump administration’s rapid push to downsize the work force, generating discord in a reliable political base for Republicans.
* Preventing Civilian Harm: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is moving to terminate Pentagon offices and positions that focus on preventing and responding to civilian harm during U.S. combat operations, according to three defense officials.
[Will impediments to torture of prisoners of war be wiped too?]
* * I.R.S.: The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to shed as much as 50 percent of its staff, according to four people familiar with the matter, a significant cut that could jeopardize the agency’s ability to complete its basic mission of collecting taxes.
How We Report on the Trump Administration
Hundreds of readers asked about our coverage of the president. Times
editors and reporters responded to some of the most common questions
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/insider/how-the-new-york-times-reports-on-trump.html .
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-funding-freeze-states.html
"A second federal judge has ruled to block the Trump administration's spending freeze"
There is some different here.
The judge had already ruled that the administration was not complying with his previous order requiring the government to keep disbursing money to states.
A memo from the White House budget office had demanded a pause on billions in grants until the administration could determine that the funding complied with President Trump’s priorities. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
By Zach Montague
Reporting from Washington
March 6, 2025Updated 3:20 p.m. ET
All links
A federal judge on Thursday extended an order that prevented the Trump administration from freezing billions in congressionally approved funds to 22 states and the District of Columbia. The judge found that the administration had overstepped in trying to stop the agencies from using money appropriated by Congress.
The ruling, which builds on the judge’s temporary order instructing the government to keep disbursing the funds, sets up a broader clash between Democratic states over the Trump administration’s efforts to align spending with the president’s agenda.
In an opinion handed down on Thursday morning, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island, said the case amounted to executive overreach.
“Here, the executive put itself above Congress,” he wrote. “It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.”
A memo from the White House budget office had demanded a pause on billions in grants until the administration could determine that the funding complied with Mr. Trump’s priorities,
Insert: You see, again, DOGE and and other actions of the Trump administration are not - repeat NOT - basically about cutting wasteful spending, that's an incidental along the way thing. The pauses, the cuts et al are all about stopping expenditure, where they possibly can, on causes which they ideologically oppose. Like inclusive education. Like teaching children of the real history of much of America. Like environmental causes. Like causes to help individuals to be more happy in their own skin. Like abortion.
They are not primarily interested in cutting wasteful spending. Repeat it as you would always repeat the truth.
setting off days of confusion and alarm. A coalition of the states’ attorneys general quickly sued. In their challenge, they pointed to specific examples of how critical funding from agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Environmental Protection Agency could leave states stranded in an emergency, unable to provide such vital services as clean water.
Judge McConnell, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said that the directive from the budget office “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government” and that without his action, “the funding that the states are due and owed creates an indefinite limbo.”
The order on Thursday was aimed at all the federal agencies cited in the memo from the budget office. It directs them to refrain from “pausing, freezing, blocking, canceling, suspending, terminating or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to the States under awarded grants, executed contracts or other executed financial obligations.”
Judge McConnell also noted that the government still appeared to be defying his earlier temporary order.
The White House budget office memo had indicated that funds would be halted to give the Trump administration time to eliminate spending in line with political goals such as “terminating the Green New Deal” and “pausing funding programs relating to ‘removable or illegal aliens.’”
“The Trump administration’s illegal funding freeze jeopardized law enforcement funding, essential health care and child care services and other critical programs that millions of Americans rely on,” Letitia James, the attorney general of New York who helped lead the lawsuit, said after the ruling.
The case has unfolded similarly to other lawsuits accusing the government of similarly tying up foreign aid and grants to charities and other nongovernmental organizations.
In those cases, beneficiaries of U.S. assistance have claimed that the administration arbitrarily held up funding they rely on, causing weeks of confusion and disrupting their work. Later on Thursday, a Federal District Court judge is expected to hear updates in a case involving the Trump administration’s freeze on aid to various global health organizations .. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/us/politics/foreign-aid-supreme-court-trump.html .
At the heart of the challenges is the question of a president’s authority .. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/us/politics/trump-federal-grants-loans-power.html .. to unilaterally freeze funds appropriated by Congress under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Mr. Trump has said he wants the Supreme Court to strike down that law, affording him greater control of federal spending.
[Note April, 2024 - Trump now sees an election on his highway. That's why now he is saying Ukraine is worthy of American aid.
[...] Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own
policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. OMB withheld funds
for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA).
The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB
violated the ICA.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174285983
February, 2025 - Trump’s disregard for US constitution ‘a blitzkrieg on the law’, legal experts say
[...]Tribe said the so-called pause in federal spending that the Trump administration ordered last Monday “was a clear usurpation of a coordinate branch’s [Congress’s] exclusive power of the purse”.
P - Before the Trump administration rescinded the freeze two days later, several groups had sued to stop the freeze, saying Trump had violated the constitution and the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which lets presidents withhold funds in limited circumstances, but only if they first follow several special procedures – which legal experts said Trump failed to do'
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=175747413]
In his order on Thursday, Judge McConnell appeared to agree with the attorneys general that the uncertainty caused by the Trump administration’s actions could leave the states exposed, for instance if a state were unable to reliably access FEMA funding in the event of a natural disaster.
“In an evident and acute harm, with floods and fires wreaking havoc across the country, federal funding for emergency management and preparedness would be impacted,” he wrote.
Judge McConnell directed FEMA to detail steps it had taken to make funds available in a status report due on March 14.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the U.S. Department of Education, the White House and federal courts. More about Zach Montague
See more on: Donald Trump, U.S. Politics
The Trump Administration’s First 100 Days
* The Panama Canal: An investor group led by BlackRock will acquire two ports near the Panama Canal that are owned by CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong conglomerate, and that have been the subject of a dispute between President Trump and Panama.
* Foreign Aid to Resume: The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s emergency request to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid as part of his efforts to slash government spending.
* Federal Properties: The Trump administration identified more than 440 federal properties that could be sold off. By the next morning, the entire inventory had been taken down, replaced by an agency web page that said the list of properties was “coming soon.”
* National Security: The senior Democrats on the Senate and House national security panels issued a scathing statement before the president’s speech to Congress ..
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/us/politics/national-security-democrats-trump-musk.html .
* Work Force Overhaul: Veterans, who make up a disproportionate share of federal employees, are feeling the brunt of the Trump administration’s rapid push to downsize the work force, generating discord in a reliable political base for Republicans.
* Preventing Civilian Harm: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is moving to terminate Pentagon offices and positions that focus on preventing and responding to civilian harm during U.S. combat operations, according to three defense officials.
[Will impediments to torture of prisoners of war be wiped too?]
* * I.R.S.: The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to shed as much as 50 percent of its staff, according to four people familiar with the matter, a significant cut that could jeopardize the agency’s ability to complete its basic mission of collecting taxes.
How We Report on the Trump Administration
Hundreds of readers asked about our coverage of the president. Times
editors and reporters responded to some of the most common questions
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/insider/how-the-new-york-times-reports-on-trump.html .
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-funding-freeze-states.html
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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