Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to reimpose federal funding freeze
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a Trump administration effort to temporarily pause a lower court order halting the president’s federal funding freeze.
The court said the administration failed to provide specifics about the potential harm caused by halting the freeze on federal payments for grants, loans and other programs.
“[T]he defendants do not cite any authority in support of their administrative stay request or identify any harm related to a specific funding action or actions that they will face without their requested administrative stay,” the three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit noted.
“In these circumstances, we assume we have jurisdiction, and deny the motion for an administrative stay without prejudice,” the ruling stated, with the judges noting that the Trump administration has a pending request for a pause with the judge that blocked the funding freeze last month.
“We are confident the District Court will act with dispatch to provide any clarification needed with respect to, among other things, the defendants’ contention that the February 10 Order ‘bars both the President and much of the Federal Government from exercising their own lawful authorities to withhold funding without the prior approval of the district court,’” the appeals court wrote.
District Judge John McConnell issued a temporary restraining order on Jan. 31 blocking the Trump administration from temporarily freezing payments for grants, loans and other programs.
McConnell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ordered federal agencies on Monday to immediately restore any paused or withheld spending, arguing that the Trump administration had not complied with his previous order.
President Trump’s Justice Department sought to appeal McConnell’s initial ruling as well as his subsequent order demanding a restoration of paused spending.
The Delaware-based judge issued the ruling after a lawsuit was brought against the Trump administration by a group of Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia.
