A federal judge on Thursday extended an order that prevented the Trump administration from freezing billions in congressionally approved funds to 22 states and the District of Columbia. The judge found that the administration had overstepped in trying to stop the agencies from using money appropriated by Congress.
The ruling, which builds on the judge’s temporary order instructing the government to keep disbursing the funds, sets up a broader clash between Democratic states over the Trump administration’s efforts to align spending with the president’s agenda.
In an opinion handed down on Thursday morning, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island, said the case amounted to executive overreach.
“Here, the executive put itself above Congress,” he wrote. “It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.”
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