Attorney General James and Multistate Coalition Secure Court Order Blocking Trump Administration from Freezing Federal Funds

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James, leading a coalition of 22 other attorneys general, today won a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration to block its illegal policy that would freeze funding for essential federal agency grants, loans, and other financial assistance programs. Judge John J. McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island today granted the preliminary injunction after Attorney General James and the coalition sued the Trump administration to stop the funding freeze. 

“The Trump administration’s illegal funding freeze jeopardized law enforcement funding, essential health care and childcare services, and other critical programs that millions of Americans rely on,” said Attorney General James. “I led a coalition of attorneys general in suing to stop this reckless policy and defend the essential funding that our communities count on. Today we secured another court order to block the administration’s funding freeze while our lawsuit progresses. The power of the purse belongs to Congress – not the President. I will continue to fight to uphold our laws and protect the vital funding and programs that New Yorkers need.”

The administration’s funding freeze policy, issued through an array of actions, including a January 27 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), illegally withheld trillions of dollars in federal funds for states and other entities like nonprofit organizations and community health centers. The policy caused immediate chaos and uncertainty for millions of Americans who rely on state programs that receive these federal funds. In New York and multiple other states, states could not access Medicaid dollars. In Syracuse, a community health center serving low-income communities announced plans to borrow funding to meet payroll and warned it could close within weeks. Throughout the state, tens of millions of dollars in federal grants to the New York Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) to support disaster preparedness and recovery programs have been frozen. Funding for nonprofit groups that provide care for homeless veterans in New York City was also put on hold.

Attorney General James and the coalition sued the administration over the freeze on January 28, and on January 31, the court granted the attorneys general’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the freeze’s implementation until further order from the court. On February 7, Attorney General James and the coalition filed motions for enforcement and a preliminary injunction to stop the illegal freeze and preserve federal funding that families, communities, and states rely on. On February 8, the court granted the motion for enforcement, ordering the administration to immediately comply with the TRO and stop freezing federal funds. On February 28, Attorney General James and the coalition filed a second motion for enforcement seeking to stop the Trump administration from freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to the states from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted Attorney General James and the coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction, halting the implementation of the administration’s policy. The Court concluded that the states had demonstrated a high likelihood of success on their claims that the actions making up the funding freeze policy were unlawful. In today’s order, the Court also required the administration to provide evidence of their compliance with regard to unfreezing FEMA funds by March 14 and to alert all agencies about the Court’s order.

The lawsuit is led by Attorney General James and the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Joining the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.