Attorney General Bonta Secures Preliminary Injunction Against Trump Administration Blocking Harmful Federal Funding Freeze

If allowed to go into effect, the federal funding freeze would have threatened hundreds of billions of dollars in California annually, including vital public safety, healthcare, childcare, and infrastructure funding, and other essential services

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today secured a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island preventing the Trump Administration from implementing a sweeping federal funding freeze while litigation continues. The Court finds that the states are likely to succeed in their claims that the Trump Administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act by freezing funds in contravention of underlying appropriations statutes and that their actions were arbitrary and capricious. The Court specifically notes that the Trump Administration has failed to rebut the harms that the states have presented, including to the states’ most vulnerable residents. These include the potential impacts to services that increase workplace health and safety, water quality, critical transportation infrastructure, and law enforcement and public safety, as well as programs such as Head Start, education services for students with disabilities, and research projects at state universities. Attorney General Bonta led a coalition of 23 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to block the funding freeze last month. 

“Last month, the Trump Administration chaotically implemented a sweeping federal funding freeze, halting access to billions of dollars in funds lawfully appropriated by Congress. In doing so, it willfully ignored the immediate devastation a freeze would have on the health, safety, and wellbeing of communities and businesses across the country,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Staff in my office worked overnight to ready a lawsuit challenging this illegal freeze and have continued to fight for these critical funds. Today’s decision is an important victory for the rule of law and for the many programs throughout our state that rely on federal funding to carry out their mission. But the fight is not over, and we will continue to work to secure a permanent decision blocking this radical freeze.”

BACKGROUND 

Last month, a coalition of 23 attorneys general, led by the attorneys general of California, New York, Rhode Island, Illinois, and Massachusetts, sued the Trump Administration over its attempt to freeze up to $3 trillion in vital federal funding. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island quickly granted the attorneys general’s request for a temporary restraining order, blocking the freeze’s implementation until further order from the court. Soon after, the attorneys general filed motions for enforcement and a preliminary injunction to stop the illegal freeze and preserve federal funding that families, communities, and states rely on. The court granted the motion for enforcement, ordering the Administration to immediately comply with the temporary restraining order and stop unlawfully freezing federal funds. 

In just this fiscal year, California is expected to receive $168 billion in federal funding – 34% of the state’s budget – not including funding for the state’s public college and university system. This includes $107.5 billion in funding for California’s Medicaid programs, which serve approximately 14.5 million Californians, including 5 million children and 2.3 million seniors and people with disabilities. Additionally, over 9,000 full-time equivalent state employee positions are federally funded.

Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin in securing the preliminary injunction.   

A copy of the preliminary injunction is available here.