Trump’s Funding Freeze Violated Separation of Powers, Judge Rules

A federal judge ruled in favor of dozens of states Thursday by finding that President Donald Trump’s massive federal funding freeze in late January encroached upon Congress’s power of the purse.

District Chief Judge John McConnell said in his ruling Thursday the Trump administration, by issuing the freeze, “put itself above Congress.” 

“It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending,” said McConnell, an appointee of President Barack Obama.

The judge ordered federal agencies through a preliminary injunction to disburse any remaining frozen funds and prohibited the Trump administration from freezing appropriated federal funds in the future.

McConnell’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by 22 states and D.C. represented by Democratic attorneys general. 

“The Executive has not pointed to any constitutional or statutory authority that would allow them to impose this type of categorical freeze,” the judge noted.

The funding freeze stemmed from executive orders previously issued by Trump, but it was officially put into effect by a Jan. 27 memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The OMB later rescinded the memo, but the Trump administration argued that the freeze was still in place.

The interruption on an enormous swath of federal spending set off mass confusion, frustration and uncertainty amongst millions of Americans that rely on federally funded child care, food assistance and housing programs and hundreds of nonprofits that depend on governmental grants.

It also affected law enforcement and public safety agencies that rely on federal funding and funding for critical transportation infrastructure.