A US judge on Tuesday temporarily paused part of the sweeping directive of US President Donald Trump’s administration to pause federal loans, grants and other financial assistance, granting a win to advocacy groups who said the policy would be devastating.
It came on the same day the Trump administration said it was offering financial incentives to 2 million civilian full-time federal workers to quit as part of plans to drastically shrink the size of the US government.
At a hearing in Washington, US District Judge Loren AliKhan ordered the Trump administration not to block “open awards,” or funds that were already slated to be disbursed, until at least Monday next week, when another hearing would be held.
Photo: AP
The judge said her temporary ruling was intended to “maintain the status quo.”
It does not block the Trump administration from freezing funding to new programs, or require it to restart funding that has already ended.
The National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, Main Street Alliance and SAGE on Tuesday sued over the directive issued by the acting head of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It had been set to take effect Tuesday evening.
The groups said OMB lacked authority to unilaterally terminate all federal financial assistance programs across the government, and that the directive targeted grant recipients based in part on recipients’ rights to free expression and association under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
OMB Acting Director Matthew Vaeth said the money would be put on hold while the White House reviews grants and loans to ensure they are aligned with the president’s priorities, including executive orders he signed ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The Trump administration said programs delivering critical benefits to Americans would not be affected.
Separately, a group of attorneys general from 22 mostly Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in Providence, Rhode Island, seeking to stop the funding freeze.
The attorneys general said the Trump administration’s assertion that the funding pause was not across-the-board only added to the confusion.
Meanwhile, the White House’s “deferred resignation program” would allow federal employees to remain on the payroll through Sept. 30, but without having to work in person and possibly having their duties reduced or eliminated in the meantime, an e-mail sent to federal employees and seen by Reuters said.
The e-mail gives federal employees until Thursday next week to decide whether to take part. It instructed interested employees to reply to the e-mail from a government account and type the word “resign.”
The offer covers about 2.3 million civilian employees except those in immigration and national security-related positions and people working for the US Postal Service.
Security related agencies account for the bulk of the federal workforce, but hundreds of thousands of people work across the country in jobs overseeing veterans’ healthcare, inspecting agriculture and paying the government’s bills, among other jobs.
The e-mail said the administration expects to see a “more streamlined and flexible workforce.”
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