Politics

Illinois Joins Other States in Asking Courts to Block Donald Trump’s Federal Funding Pause

Illinois is wasting little time in joining with other states asking the courts to block President Donald Trump’s sudden pause of federal funding.

The unexpected move threatens to hold up billions of dollars for basic government functions like health care, infrastructure and support for young children and veterans. On Tuesday afternoon, just before the funding freeze was scheduled to take effect, a federal judge issued a temporary stay that lasts until Monday afternoon.

The order from U.S. District Court Judge Loren L. AliKhan came in response to a separate suit from the National Council of Nonprofits.

On a digital press conference announcing the suit by 22 Democratic attorneys general, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined colleagues from states including New York, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island who characterized Trump’s move as unconstitutional and harmful.

“On Jan. 20 our nation had a peaceful transfer of power. But let’s be clear. Jan. 20 was an inauguration, not a coronation,” Raoul said. “Congress is given the power to appropriate the funding. The executive branch cannot unilaterally disregard those appropriations passed by a separate and equal house of government.”

The Democrats characterized the action as being outside constitutional presidential powers.

“We won’t stand by while the president breaks the law and oversteps his authority,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

Bonta said the decision to hold up $3 billion in federal money with less than 24 hours’ notice “is dangerous, unprecedented in scope and devastating in its intended effect. It’s thrown state programs into chaos and created confusion among our residents.”

A memo issued by the White House’s acting budget director Monday and widely obtained by national media outlets instructs federal agencies to pause “disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” and directs agencies to conduct an analysis to ensure that spending in line with Trump’s edicts to end “wokeness” and to make government more efficient.

Agencies are to review federal financial assistance to weed out “wasteful” spending, like support for diversity, gender and inclusion initiatives or for immigrants without legal status, per the memo from Matthew Vaeth, acting management and budget director.

The freeze on federal funding and grants has wide-ranging implications, and impacts everything from funding for childcare, university research and roads and bridges.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration reported Tuesday morning that the state was for a time unable to access the portal used for the administration of Medicaid, the joint state/federal health care program for the poor. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as of October Medicaid covered 3.2 million Illinois residents, including children covered by the related Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans would not be affected, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans and food stamps. They also defended the funding pause, saying Trump was following through on his promise to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term.

Raoul, a Democrat, said the near blanket funding stop will have a “devastating impact on the public safety, prosperity and quality of life.”

He said his office could have issues going after sex offenders and child predators, because the funding pause impacts its Internet Crimes Against Children task force, as well as funding that “allows our law enforcement partners to fight crime.”

California expects it will result in delayed disaster aid for Los Angeles wildfire recovery efforts, Bonta said.

Trump has previously talked about withholding assistance until California adjusts its water policies to his liking.

The unexpected pause in funding could be why Massachusetts is still waiting on the $40 million in Medicaid funding it just tried to access, the commonwealth’s attorney general, Andrea Joy Campbell, said, calling it an “abuse of power.”

“That’s why we’re taking urgent action as a collective, because what we all deeply understand is the impact of this particular order does not affect one individual state. It has a national impact,” Campbell said.

Illinois was also among 22 Democratic-led states that last week sued against Trumps’ executive order that seeks to stop granting U.S. citizenship to babies born to undocumented parents.

A federal judge granted Illinois’ request to temporarily prevent the birthright citizenship order from taking effect. 

The Associated Press contributed. 

Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]

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