The State of California is pushing back after last night’s shock announcement from Trump Administration ordering a pause on all federal grants and loans, which is set to take affect today. 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Tuesday morning that he is joining other attorneys general across the country in a lawsuit aimed at stopping Trump’s action. Read the full release from Bonta’s office below:

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, led a coalition of 23 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to block implementation of a memo by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) threatening to freeze up to $3 trillion in federal assistance funding effective at 2pm PT / 5pm ET today. The attorneys general are seeking a temporary restraining order to block the memo from taking effect, citing immediate harms to their states, which stand to lose billions in funding essential for the administration of vital programs that support the health and safety of their residents. Already, the order has thrown state programs into chaos and created uncertainty around their administration. Impacted programs include disaster-relief funding necessary for Los Angeles’ recovery from recent wildfires, as well as public health, education, public safety, and government programs.

“The Trump Administration is recklessly disregarding the health, wellbeing, and public safety of the people it is supposed to serve,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This directive is unprecedented in scope and would be devastating if implemented. Already, it has created chaos and confusion among our residents. I will not stand by while the President attempts to disrupt vital programs that feed our kids, provide medical care to our families, and support housing and education in our communities. Instead of learning from the defeats of his first Administration, President Trump is once again plowing ahead with a damaging – and most importantly, unlawful – agenda. I’m proud to co-lead a coalition of attorneys general in taking him to court.” 

The OMB directive freezing federal funding less than 24 hours after it was announced will cause immediate and irreparable harm to the states every day that it is in effect — in the form of millions of dollars in funds and mass regulatory chaos. Many states could face immediate cash shortfalls, making it difficult to administer basic programs like funding for healthcare and food for children and to address their most pressing emergency needs. This will result in devastating consequences for California in particular, given the uncertainty around continued disbursement of FEMA funding that is essential for recovery from the Los Angeles wildfires, which have caused an estimated $150 billion in economic losses.

In the lawsuit, the attorneys general argue that the OMB directive violates the U.S. Constitution, violates the Administrative Procedure Act, and is arbitrary and capricious. Specifically, the attorneys general argue that Congress has not delegated any unilateral authority to OMB to indefinitely pause all federal financial assistance under any circumstance, irrespective of the federal statutes and contractual terms governing those grants, and without even considering them. The directive also violates the “separation of powers” between Congress and the Executive Branch because the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the power of the purse exclusively to Congress. The attorneys general seek a temporary restraining order to block the directive from being implemented.   

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

A copy of the lawsuit and TRO will become available here.  

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Additionally, North Coast congressman Jared Huffman weighed in on Trump’s move by issuing the following statement:

Today, Founder of the Stop Project 2025 Task Force and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Jared Huffman (CA-02) released a statement decrying the Trump administration’s illegal order for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to block and redirect vast swaths of federal funding approved by Congress.  This radical attempt to override laws and subordinate Congress’ Article I power to the whims of Trump’s Executive Orders comes on the heels of Trump’s purge of more than a dozen independent agency watchdogs known as Inspectors General in blatant violation of a 2022 bipartisan law enacted in response to Trump’s previous attempts to evade oversight and accountability from independent inspectors general.  

“Trump is wasting no time testing the sideboards of democracy, betting that his feckless Republican Congress and his MAGA Supreme Court will stand back and stand by as he claims virtually unlimited power.  With this one memo, Trump is sidelining Congress and placing supreme authority over most of the federal budget and the federal bureaucracy in the hands of Russ Vought – the principle architect of Project 2025 who has written that we are living in a “post-Constitutional” time and that his role as OMB Director is to be “keeper of commander’s intent.”  Vought has called for Trump to ignore statutory reforms that protect Congress’ Article I spending authority and to aggressively freeze or “impound” federal spending and agency actions, daring the courts to stop him.  In Project 2025, he wrote that OMB is the only agency with enough power to “override” federal agencies efforts to implement laws, and now Trump is ordering him to do it,” said Huffman. “We cannot allow this dangerous power grab to be lost in the fog of confusion as Trump bombards us with one extreme executive order after another.  What Trump is doing here, especially in conjunction with last week’s shocking midnight purge of inspectors general, is crystal clear:  he is setting the stage to operate as a king, with no oversight or accountability.”  

“This is simultaneously an attack on democracy and hardworking American families. To benefit his billionaire donors and wealthy corporations, Trump just illegally ordered his cronies to steal taxpayer dollars that communities rely on to support families, defend against wildfires, research cancer, pay teachers and first responders, create jobs, and much more.

“Like it or not, an existential test of American democracy is upon us.  The American people and many of my colleagues may be distracted, exhausted, and overwhelmed, but we face a binary choice:  confront this sweeping authoritarian takeover and defend the rule of law, or let Trump be a dictator and hope he will heed the recent prayer from Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde to “have mercy.”  I know where I stand, and I will urge my constituents and all of my congressional colleagues, including any Republicans who still believe in the Constitution, to join me.” 

How Trump’s Power Grab Will Hurt Americans

Among much else, the directives in the memo could block funding for:

  • PUBLIC SAFETY: Grants for law enforcement and homeland security activities will cease to go out the door, undermining public safety in every state and territory.
  • DISASTER RELIEF: Public assistance and hazard mitigation grants from the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) to state, tribal, territorial, and local governments and non-profits to help communities quickly respond to, recover from, and prepare for major disasters will be halted—right as so many communities are struggling after severe natural disasters, most recently in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and California.
  • INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS: All federally-funded transportation projects across the country—roads, bridges, public transit, and more—will be halted, including projects already under construction.
  • COMBATTING FENTANYL CRISIS: Funding for communities to address the substance use disorder crisis and combat the fentanyl crisis will be cut off.
  • 988 SUICIDE AND CRISIS LIFELINE: Funding for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as well as grants for mental health services, will be cut off.
  • BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: There will be immediate pauses on all funding for critical health research, including research on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes, as well as clinical trials at the NIH Clinical Center and all across the country—disrupting lifesaving and often time-sensitive research.
  • EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: Critical preparedness and response capability funding used to prepare for disasters, public health emergencies, and chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear events will be stopped.
  • FIREFIGHTING: Grants to support firefighters across the country will be halted—this includes grants that help states and localities purchase essential firefighting equipment and prepare for and reduce wildfire risk.
  • HEAD START: Funding for Head Start programs that provide comprehensive early childhood education for more than 800,000 kids and their families will be cut off. Teachers and staff would not get paid and programs may not be able to stay open.
  • CHILD CARE: Child care programs across the country will not be able to access the funding they rely on to keep their doors open.
  • K-12 SCHOOLS: Federal funding for our K-12 schools will be halted. School districts may not be able to access key formula grant funding including Title I, IDEA, Impact Aid, and Career and Technical Education, which would pose tremendous financial burdens on schools in the middle of the school year.
  • HIGHER EDUCATION AND JOB TRAINING: Millions of students relying on Pell grants, federal student loans, and federal work study will have their plans to pursue postsecondary education and further their careers thrown into chaos as federal financial aid disbursements are paused.
  • HEALTH SERVICES: Federal funding for community health centers that provide health care for over 30 million Americans will be immediately withheld, creating chaos for patients trying get their prescriptions, a regular checkup, and more.
  • SMALL BUSINESSES: The Small Business Administration will have to halt loans to small businesses—including those in disaster ravaged communities in North Carolina, Texas, and Florida.
  • VETERANS CARE: Federal grants to help veterans in rural areas access health care and grants to help veterans get other critical services, including suicide prevention resources, transition assistance, and housing for homeless veterans, will be cut off.
  • NUTRITION ASSISTANCE: Millions of American citizens who rely on nutrition assistance programs like SNAP, WIC, and school lunch programs will be left hungry as funding is cut off and non-profits who provide additional assistance lose federal funding.
  • TRIBES: Funding to Tribes for basic government services like health care, public safety, programs, Tribal schools, and food assistance will be halted.
  • PREVENTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: All Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grants, as well as funding for victims assistance and state and local police, will be cut off.
  • U.S. COMPETITIVENESS: Existing grants to support research for AI and quantum computing will be halted and any new grant funding would be paused—undermining U.S. innovation and competitiveness with China and putting American jobs at risk.
  • ENERGY JOBS: Grants for critical energy projects nationwide will be cut off—halting billions of dollars in investment nationwide and jeopardizing good-paying American jobs. The Department of Energy Loan Program Office will halt loans in 28 states, impacting hundreds of thousands of construction and operations jobs.
  • FOOD INSPECTIONS: Some states will have to take on the full financial burden of ensuring the nation’s meat supply is safe if federal cooperative agreements for meat inspection are halted.
  • SUPPORT FOR SERVICEMEMBERS: Support for a host of DOD financial assistance and grant programs supporting servicemembers and their families will be halted, including the Fisher House, Impact Aid, community noise mitigation, ROTC language training, STEM programs, and the USO.
  • WEAKENS MILITARY READINESS: Grants and other assistance appropriated to strengthen military effectiveness and defense capacity will be halted, including Defense Production Act support for the defense industrial base, basic research grants necessary to advance key technologies, and small business support to strengthen supply chains.
  • AMERICANS OVERSEAS: Programs that track and combat the spread of infectious diseases, create business opportunities for American companies in emerging markets, combat terrorism, and counter the influence of the PRC, Russia, and Iran—and efforts to ensure the safety and security of Americans implementing these programs—are all suspended and could be terminated.

Fact sheets detailing how presidents lack power to unilaterally override spending laws and deny enacted funding to communities through impoundment can be found here and here.