WASHINGTON − A federal judge on Monday continued to block the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending and directed the administration to show by Friday how it’s complying.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan issued that order after rejecting the Justice Department’s argument that the administration is following AliKhan’s original order to stop the funding freeze as well as one another judge issued last week.
“Every day that the (funding) pause continues to ripple across the country is an additional day that Americans are being denied access to programs that heal them, house them, and them,” she wrote.
During a 90-minute hearing on whether another order is needed, AliKhan pointed to an organization’s claim that the group has been unable to draw down funds since the White House Office of Management and Budget directed federal agencies to pause funding.
The small nonprofit, which helps West Virginians with disabilities live in their own homes, is normally reimbursed by the Department of Health and Human Services on a rolling basis as is needed to pay immediate bills. The name of the nonprofit was redacted in the court filing.
While the organization was able to log on to the funding portal after AliKhan temporarily blocked the funding freeze Wednesday, funds were still not available as of Sunday, the organization told the court in a filing.
As a result, the organization laid off one of its five employees, has reduced services – and will close altogether if funding is not restored, the group said.
Their statement was among those submitted by a coalition of advocacy groups challenging the Office of Management and Budget’s directive to federal agencies to pause grants and loans to make sure they comply with President Donald Trump’s priorities.
That freeze is separately being challenged by 22 mostly Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia which argue the policy could have a devastating effect on their budgets.
A federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday issued a temporary restraining order on the administration and AliKhan did the same Monday.
The Office of Management and Budget’s vaguely-worded memo was rescinded the day after AliKhan temporarily blocked it until she could hear from both sides during Monday’s hearing.
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s directive to freeze funding remained in effect, continuing the confusion that the memo had created.
AliKhan said she interpreted Leavitt’s statement to mean that the rescinded memo is still in effect.
“The rescission, if it can be called that, appears to be nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to prevent this court from granting relief,” she wrote in her order.
Daniel Schwei, an attorney for the Justice Department, disputed that. He said the memo was withdrawn because it had become a “side show” but the overall goal of reviewing spending, as consistent with Trump’s executive orders and agencies’ own discretionary authority, is still in place and legally valid.
“The fundamental question in this case is whether the president and his advisors can tell agencies that, consistent with their own statutory authorities, they should pause funding to ensure that the funding is executed consistent with the president’s priorities,” he said. “The answer to that question has to be `yes.'”
Kevin Friedl, an attorney for Democracy Forward, which is representing a coalition of advocacy groups, said what they’re challenging is the administration’s “blanket freeze.”
“And that’s what we see from all the evidence is still going on,” Friedl said.
(This article has been updated to include additional information.)