Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced a key district court ruling today – declaring that the Trump Administration broke the law when it terminated billions of dollars in future federal grants that Congress had already set aside for states. The cuts would hit programs across the country that fight violent crime, fund lifesaving medical research, educate kids, protect clean drinking water, and help families put food on the table.
“Behind these grants are food banks stocking their shelves, clean water systems serving communities, and researchers working on cures to save lives,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “For the Trump Administration to pull this funding, purely because of partisan politics, was an exercise in cruelty. The court made the right decision, and I’m thrilled that we’ll be protecting these programs.”
Oregon and a multistate coalition sued last year, arguing that the Trump Administration broke the law when it used an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) grant regulation to cut off funding. The lawsuit pointed out that the rule was never meant to let federal agencies pull funding after the fact simply because they’d rather spend the money differently.
The complaint argued that the Trump Administration’s termination of these grants was unlawful. The lawsuit explained that the regulation does not authorize federal agencies to terminate grants based on changes in agency preferences that occur after a grant is awarded. The lawsuit also noted the importance of obtaining clarity regarding the scope of this regulation, as states collectively accept hundreds of billions of dollars a year that are at risk of termination.
The court granted the states a declaratory judgment that the OMB regulation and the agencies’ regulations do not independently authorize the Trump Administration to terminate funding based on agency priorities that were only identified after the grant was awarded.
Along with Attorney General Rayfield, other attorneys general who filed this lawsuit last June included Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
