The Trump administration was reportedly ordered by a judge to reinstate federal funds that it had attempted to freeze because it was not completely adhering to a previous rule that had barred it.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island instructed the administration to “immediately take every step necessary to effectuate” a restraining order he issued on January 31 in a written order released Monday.
The decision by McConnell, a former president Barack Obama appointment, was part of a case filed by 22 states and the District of Columbia.
The administration has been the target of several legal challenges as it moves quickly to carry out its agenda.
The lawsuit centered on an order from the White House Office of Management and Budget telling federal agencies to stop funding while it evaluated whether government programs adhered to executive orders issued by President Trump that cracked down on diversity initiatives, foreign aid, and green energy projects.
Soon after the case was filed, OMB revoked that direction; nonetheless, the states claim that some money that had been approved by Congress were still being wrongfully withheld.
Legislators, nonprofit organizations, and state governments were confused by the OMB policy’s early implementation as they attempted to determine which initiatives would be discontinued.
In a court filing, the states stated that the still-frozen monies included $5 billion for greenhouse-gas reduction initiatives and almost $7 billion in grant money for solar panels.
Attorneys for the Justice Department stated in a court filing on Sunday that the administration had made “good-faith, diligent efforts” to abide by McConnell’s previous decision.
They said that a Trump executive order that was enacted only hours after he took office and halted tens of billions of dollars in federal climate expenditure was the reason the monies in question were blocked.
Additionally, the Justice Department contended that the order dated January 31 did not exclude federal agencies from examining payment requests to make sure they were not wasteful or fraudulent.
Writing that the administration had “violated the plain text” of his restraining order, McConnell dismissed the claim.
Opponents across have filed lawsuits in response to the Trump administration’s frantic attempts to scrutinize federal spending.
One of the most recent instances occurred on Monday when a group of Democratic attorneys general from 22 states filed a lawsuit against federal health agencies over the National Institutes of Health’s decision to stop providing billions of dollars in research funding to medical facilities last week.
In its announcement on Friday, NIH imposed a 15% rate cap on funds allotted to laboratory support services, which include hazardous waste disposal for chemicals, specialist biosafety equipment in labs handling dangerous pathogens, and heating and ventilation.
These “indirect cost” rates, which can exceed 60%, are negotiated directly between institutions and the federal government.
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