The latest skirmish in the battle over federal funding to states took place in federal court in Providence Friday.
Lawyers representing a coalition of 22 states 鈥� including Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 海角换妻, Vermont and Maine 鈥� asked a federal judge to prevent the Trump Administration from pulling funds because they don鈥檛 fit with the president鈥檚 agenda.
The states told U.S. District Court Chief Judge John McConnell Jr., that the Trump Administration鈥檚 threat to freeze trillions of dollars of grants and loans budgeted to fund everything from homelessness to .
In some cases, even a delay of hours or days, the lawyers said, would cause 鈥渋rreparable harm鈥� to communities.
The Trump Administration argued it has already rescinded its initial order to federal agencies, , making the case moot. The White House now vows it will hold back money only if the president has the legal authority to do so.
Lawyers overseen by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told the court they don鈥檛 trust the administration not to exceed its authority.
鈥淥ur concern is once the court鈥檚 order goes away, the president can go right back to what he did in the first place,鈥� Neronha told reporters outside the courthouse in Providence. 鈥淎nd so what we鈥檙e seeking is a freeze, if you will, on their freeze, meaning 鈥榊ou cannot take any additional action to pause these funds.鈥欌��
Judge McConnell said he hopes to rule within a week on whether the case can proceed. For now, McConnell said, an earlier temporary order barring a pullback on funds remains in place.
The funding freeze
The dispute stems from by Matthew J. Vaeth, then-acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In that Jan. 27 memo, addressed to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, the OMB ordered a temporary spending freeze starting at 5 P.M. the following day.
The purpose, Vaeth wrote, was to root out any spending not in line with President Trump鈥檚 priorities as outlined in his executive orders 鈥� 鈥渋ncluding, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.鈥�
Vaeth wrote: 鈥淭he use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.鈥�
A federal judge in Washington blocked implementation of the freeze moments before it was due to take effect. Meanwhile 22 states filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Providence.
At that point, the OMB issued . But while the administration walked back the rationale Vaeth had given for the spending freeze, executive agencies still did not release the funds in some cases.
Judge McConnell issued a compelling the administration to unfreeze the funds indefinitely while the court considers the issue.
The Trump administration apparently still did not release all of the funds, so McConnell followed up with.
The that order, but the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals , setting the stage for Friday鈥檚 hearing.
The Public鈥檚 Radio鈥檚 Jeremy Bernfeld contributed to this story.
This story was originally published by . It was shared as part of the New England News Collaborative.
