A group of 21 Democratic-led states filed a Tuesday lawsuit against the Trump administration for arbitrarily cutting grants allegedly misaligned with an agency’s goals.
Plaintiffs, which include New York, Illinois and California, said federal agencies have taken on a nationwide “slash-and-burn campaign” to unlawfully revoke previously awarded funds through a subclause in federal regulations.
States’ attorneys general allege a clause permitting federal agencies to terminate grants “pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Federal award, including, to the extent authorized by law, if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities” is being misused by the Trump administration.
The states said congressionally mandated funds cannot be “stripped away” to punish jurisdictions that enforce policies disliked by the current administration. States with sanctuary cities, research projects related to environmental protection standards and other measures have lost federal dollars in recent months.
“With the stroke of a pen, federal agencies have deprived States of critical funding they rely on to combat violent crime and protect public safety, equip law enforcement, educate students, safeguard public health, protect clean drinking water, conduct life-saving medical and scientific research, address food insecurity experienced by students in school, ensure access to unemployment benefits for workers who lose their jobs, and much more,” plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit.
“Federal agencies have done all of this without any advance notice, without any explanation to the State recipients, and in direct contravention of the will of Congress,” they added.
“The State recipients’ sole offense has been that they used the grant funding precisely how they had promised in the grant applications—and as they were instructed by the agencies at the time of the grant award.”
“Leftist AGs and governors who would rather spend their days drafting toothless letters in an attempt to ‘stick it to Trump’ continue to miss the mark while failing to address real issues impacting their states,” White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told The Hill. “Every one of these elected officials should focus on serving their constituents, not their party bosses, and work with the President and this administration to enact the agenda the American people overwhelmingly supported.”
The lawsuit follows a federal judge’s Thursday ruling rejecting the Department of Transportation’s attempts to tie state funding to immigration enforcement operations.
