WASHINGTON – On Friday, he called on Democrats attorney generals across the country to enforce a temporary restraining order issued later last month, arguing that the Trump administration has not complied with court rulings.

Democrats on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee also raised questions about the ongoing moratorium on several grants and loans.

In an emergency motion, the Attorney General wrote, “There was a kaleidoscope of federal financial support, stopped, deleted, in transit, under review, and other kaleidoscopes of financial assistance, since the order was registered.” .

They asked Supreme Court Justice John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island. Those who issued temporary restraining orders On January 31, we order the Trump administration to “quickly recover funds and remove them from federal funds until a temporary injunction motion is heard and decided.”

McConnell is giving to respond to the Department of Justice through Sunday.

Head Start Program stalled and meetings cancelled

The Attorney General wrote to them Emergency action on page 21 He filed Friday with McConnell, “(d) the defendant was unable to resume payments of federal funds in multiple respects, as illuminated by court orders.”

They write that the Trump administration has not begun to distribute funding approved under the Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Investment and Employment Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

They said that the National Institutes of Health “suddenly cancelled the review meeting of an advisory committee with the Faculty of Public Health at Brown University, and with a $71 million grant on dementia care research, “all federal advisory committee meetings.” has been cancelled.” ”

The Michigan and Vermont Head Start programs had no access to funds on February 5th, they wrote.

The brief said on February 5th and February 6th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health Resources and Services “renewed an order to suspend the University of Washington program to carry out global HIV prevention work.”

The Attorney General wrote that he tried to overcome the delay in fundraising with the Trump administration, but in part failed, due to Judge McConnell’s interpretation of temporary restraint orders.

Fighting over Freeze

Office of Management and Budget released a two-page memo in late January.

The memo caused chaos across the country as organizations receiving federal funds tried to determine whether they would be affected. Members of the Congress were in the government department that controlled spending, but were unsure of which programs were suspended and which were not.

Just before the freeze comes into effect, Judge Lauren L. Alican of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Short-term management stay issued Prevents the Trump administration from launching a fundraising freeze.

That individual lawsuit was filed by the national nonprofit organization, the American Public Health Association, the Main Street Alliance and Sage.

OMB then retracted the memo, but White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt posted on social media that withdrawing the memo was “not a withdrawal of the federal funds freeze.”

“This is simply a withdrawal of the OMB memo,” writes Leavitt. “Why? End the confusion created by the court’s injunction.”

“The President’s EO is about federal funding and is in full force and will be strictly enforced,” she added.

The Justice Department moved to dismiss both cases after the OMB memo was revoked, but both judges declined.

After McConnell Temporary restraint issued The order in the lawsuit filed by the Democratic Attorney General from 22 states and the District of Columbia. It followed after that Another temporary restraining order From Alican.

“The companies were wondering.”

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a ranking member of the Senate Approval Committee, said Friday that the entire local economy is at risk.

“Uncertainty about the fate of these investments alone has put the entire local economy at risk, leaving jobs cut off and American companies wondering whether contracts mean anything,” Murray said. wrote in a statement. “What Trump is doing could close critical infrastructure projects in virtually every community, stopping funds for farmers, stopping innovation in that truck, and large scale to local community budgets. It can stop anything more than that, such as leaving holes in the air.

“Once again: If Donald Trump or Elon Musk wants to destroy the funds that create good paying jobs across America, they can appeal to Congress and get the votes they need to do so. ”It’s not how this works to defy the Constitution to unilaterally tear your taxes.”

Murray released a 5 Page Document It details some of the areas where the Trump administration’s funding freeze continues to affect grant and lending programs.

Last updated at 5:20pm, February 7th, 2025