A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from reinstating its freeze on federal spending.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan, a Biden appointee, sided with the plaintiffs suing Trump and continued to block Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from freezing federal funds.
Last month, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) imposed a temporary pause on agency grants, loans, and other financial assistance programs.
“The American people elected Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States and gave him a mandate to increase the impact of every federal taxpayer dollar. In Fiscal Year 2024, of the nearly $10 trillion that the Federal Government spent, more than $3 trillion was Federal financial assistance, such as grants and loans,” the OMB said.
“This memorandum requires Federal agencies to identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements,” the OMB memo said. “This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities. The temporary pause will become effective on January 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM.”
“Even before completing their comprehensive analysis, Federal agencies must immediately identify any legally mandated actions or deadlines for assistance programs arising while the pause remains in effect. Federal agencies must report this information to OMB along with an analysis of the requirement. OMB also directs Federal agencies to pause all activities associated with open NOFOs, such as conducting merit review panels,” the OMB added.
On Tuesday, Judge AliKhan scolded the Trump administration and stated that the OMB had not provided a “reasonable explanation” for why it needed to freeze federal funds.
“The scope of power OMB seeks to claim is ‘breathtaking,’ and its ramifications are massive,” Judge AliKhan wrote according to CBS News. “Because there is no clear statutory hook for this broad assertion of power, plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of this claim.”
“Defendants still cannot provide a reasonable explanation for why they needed to freeze all federal financial assistance in less than a day to ‘safeguard valuable taxpayer resources,'” AliKhan added.
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