Federal appeals court rejects Trump admin request to reinstate grant and loan spending freeze

After a judge ruled the Trump administration had not fully implemented an earlier ruling, a federal appeals court denied a Trump administration bid to extend a broad funding suspension on Tuesday. 

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the emergency appeal, the latest in a series of court losses that are aggravating top administration officials and slowing President Donald Trump's many goals, as The Associated Press reported.

The appeals court also requested clarification from the lower court judge. The Trump administration suspended Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for migrant housing in New York City, citing concerns over the spending under a congressionally authorized program.

The Justice Department called the lower court order to keep pledged money flowing “intolerable judicial overreach” and requested the appeals court to approve broad pauses on government grants and loans.

The Judge's Decision

A lawsuit from 19 Democratic states is before Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell after the administration issued a boundary-pushing directive halting trillions in government grants and loans. The plan triggered nationwide turmoil.

The administration reversed that directive, but McConnell determined Monday that not all government grants and loans were restored. It was his first ruling that the administration had defied a court order.

The liberals states said early childhood education, pollution control, and HIV prevention research were tied up despite his Jan. 31 decision reversing the spending cap plan.

Former Obama appointee McConnell instructed the Trump administration to “immediately take every step necessary” to unfreeze federal grants and loans.

More Order Details

Additionally, he stated that his executive order blocked the government from last week's announced reduction of billions of dollars in grant money to the National Institutes of Health.

According to the Justice Department, the executive branch is unable to exercise its legitimate jurisdiction, such as in matters of fraud or discretionary spending, due to McConnell's injunction.

“A single district court judge has attempted to wrest from the President the power to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist for one more day,” government attorneys wrote in their appeal.

The states said the president can't block Congress-approved money, and the frozen grants and loans are hurting their residents.