In the order, US district judge John J McConnell Jr in Rhode Island instructed Donald Trump’s administration to restore and resume federal funding in accordance with the temporary restraining order he issued in January, which halted the administration’s freeze of congressionally approved federal funds.
A federal judge said on Monday that the Trump administration had defied his order to unfreeze billions in federal funding and issued a directive demanding that the government “immediately restore frozen funding”.
“The states have presented evidence in this motion that the defendants in some cases have continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds,” McConnell wrote in his decision, adding that the pauses in funding “violate the plain text” of the temporary restraining order.
McConnell’s new order on Monday comes as Democratic attorneys general that challenged the freeze, in the 22 states and Washington DC, said the government had not been complying with the order and had yet to restore some funding for several programs.
McConnell on Monday ordered the federal government to “immediately end any federal funding pause” until he reviews and decides whether to make the order more permanent through a preliminary injunction.
