This afternoon, a U.S. District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the Trump administration from freezing federal loans, grants and other financial assistance. Pursuant to the TRO, the White House “shall not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate [the administration’s] compliance with awards and obligations to provide federal financial assistance to the States, and [the administration] shall not impede the States’ access to such awards and obligations, except on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms.”
The ruling – which was issued by Rhode Island District Court Judge John McConnell Jr. at the urging of 22 Democratic state attorneys general including the State of California – will be in force until the judge can consider the states’ request for a longer injunction. Judge McConnell ordered the states to file the injunction expeditiously.
Notably, today's TRO is the second of two such orders. The first was issued by a separate federal judge earlier this week and is slated to expire Monday, February 3. At that time, the court is expected to issue a more permanent decision, though the scope of the forthcoming action remains unclear, particularly in light of today’s legal decision.
As expected, Judge McConnell’s TRO was issued despite the fact that the Trump administration took steps earlier this week to rescind the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum that ordered the funding freeze (OMB M-25-13). In today’s ruling, Judge McConnell noted that the administration’s “alleged rescission of the OMB Directive was in name-only and may have been issued simply to defeat the jurisdiction of the courts.”
Amidst the significant and ongoing confusion over the scope of the OMB memo – and despite the recent intervention of the courts – funding for a number of federal programs remains frozen. In just one example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has paused grants under the $7 billion Solar for All program, citing a need to comply with the president’s executive order entitled “Unleashing American Energy”.
Looking ahead, the National Special Districts Association, of which CSDA is a founding member, will continue to closely monitor developments out of Washington, D.C. and the federal judiciary and will issue pertinent updates, as appropriate.
Background:
January 27 OMB Memo
January 28 NSDA Memo Overviewing OMB Memo
January 29 OMB Recision Memo