District Judge Indira Talwani in the District of Massachusetts wrote that five words in U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations – referencing situations where a grant “no longer effectuates … agency priorities” – did not silently give federal agencies effectively unfettered authority to revoke grants nationwide just because the federal administration claims it is shifting its focus. “Instead of working with us to keep the public safe and lower costs for hardworking New Jerseyans, the Trump Administration has recklessly and illegally gutted federal funding for public safety, disaster preparedness, scientific research, clean water, and more.
Today’s decision is an important win for all New Jerseyans and confirms that the Trump Administration defied the law when it embarked on its campaign to gut critical federal funding to the states,” said Attorney General Davenport. “The President and his allies cannot hold critical programs hostage to their personal whims and political ideologies, destabilizing the country by yanking essential federal funding that was already awarded to the states.” Without providing any lawful justification and without any advance warning or explanation, the Trump Administration relied on this regulation to gut funding across the entire federal government. A multistate coalition led by New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York sued to stop the unprecedented attack.
Prior to the second Trump Administration, federal agencies never terminated grants merely because the agency’s priorities shifted midway through the grant period. The multistate complaint, filed last year, argued that the Trump Administration’s decision to invoke the regulation to terminate grants based on their changed agency priorities is 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 pursuant to this regulation. Judge Talwani 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. In New Jersey, the Trump Administration has terminated millions of dollars of federal funding for a wide variety of critical programs.
Nationwide, the indiscriminate cuts have caused programmatic chaos and uncertainty for grantees, including those working to combat violent crime, conduct lifesaving medical and scientific research, educate students, protect clean drinking water, safeguard public health, address food insecurity, and much more. Attorney General Davenport co-led this case with the attorneys general of Massachusetts and New York, and was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
Source: NJ Attorney General. Jersey Alerts is publishing this official public-safety update for awareness. Details may change as the agency updates its release.
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