DELAWARE — A federal court has granted a motion by Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and a coalition of 22 other attorneys general to block a Trump administration policy that would have frozen federal grants, loans and assistance programs.
“These are not just federal dollars: they are health care, housing, and heating. They are public safety, transportation, and preschool. They are the medical research that give our loved ones a glimmer of hope when they are sick and conventional treatment fails," said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. "Threatening to freeze trillions of dollars on a moment’s notice was stunningly indifferent to millions of people’s lives, including millions across the country who voted for the President. Today’s Court order ensures that, regardless of Donald Trump’s momentary whims, those funds will go where they belong.”
The policy, issued by the Office of Management and Budget on Jan. 27, sought to indefinitely pause funding for health care, education, law enforcement, disaster relief and infrastructure. While the administration later attempted to rescind the policy, disruptions continued, including frozen Medicaid funds and halted Head Start program funding.
Judge McConnell, in his order, stated, "Congress has not given the Executive limitless power to broadly and indefinitely pause all funds that it has expressly directed to specific recipients and purposes and therefore the Executive’s actions violate the separation of powers."
The lawsuit argued that the policy violated the U.S. Constitution and federal law by imposing new conditions on funding already approved by Congress. The court ruled that the President overstepped executive authority, ensuring that essential federal funds remain available.
Joining Delaware in the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.