Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Freeze on Climate, Infrastructure Grants

The judge said agencies following the president’s direction cannot ‘hamstring in perpetuity two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration.’

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington on June 28, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A federal judge on April 15 blocked the Trump administration from freezing the disbursement of funds for climate and infrastructure grants, finding that the pause in disbursing funds was illegal.

Nonprofits suing the administration over the freeze presented evidence that the indefinite freeze of already-awarded money was arbitrary and capricious, in contravention of federal law, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy said in a 63-page ruling that entered a preliminary injunction against the Department of Agriculture and five other agencies.