NJ Attorney General plans to block Trump’s federal grant freeze : NPR

A federal court has temporarily stopped a Trump administration directive to halt payments for federal grants and programs.

A memo issued Monday from the Office of Management and Budget called for federal agencies to temporarily pause disbursing funds in order to allow those agencies to determine if their programs comply with President Trump’s policies. The memo read: “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”

The move created widespread confusion in agencies, states and among lawmakers. The White House sought to clarify on Tuesday that “the pause does not apply across-the-board” and that “any program that provides direct benefits to Americans” — like Social Security, Medicare and food stamps — “is explicitly excluded.”

The federal court order to lift the federal funding pause came in response to a legal challenge from a group of nonprofit organizations.

A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general also announced legal action against OMB on Tuesday – among them New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. He spoke with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Mary Louise Kelly: So all kinds of confusion today over what exactly is in play here. What is your understanding of who and what this pause would affect?

Matthew Platkin: Well, I think the confusion is by design because the president has a habit of issuing orders and revising them regularly and creating chaos and that’s exactly what the administration did last night when they implicated potentially trillions of dollars of federal funding simply because it may somehow in their view touch on woke, DEI, you know buzzwords that they’ve put out through executive orders. And we have to remember what that funding does. It potentially funds senior’s healthcare, it funds children’s education, it funds police in states like New Jersey.

Kelly: So and so talk about some of the programs that you are thinking may be affected by this.

Platkin: Well, some of the ones that were affected throughout today, whether that be Medicaid, Headstart, which provides early childhood educational services for millions of children across the country. I mentioned funding for law enforcement. Literally, this order would defund the police in states across the country. It’s cut funding potentially for narcotics, drug trafficking, prosecutions and investigations. So the impact is extreme.

Kelly: Now, I do want to inject, just as we try to add what facts we actually know here, OMB did put out language trying to clarify the initial order. The new language from today says, and I’m quoting, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP – so food aid will continue without pause. It also says funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell Grants, Headstart and so on will not be paused. In New Jersey specifically, have you seen any direct impact so far? Or is this so much just so in play that you’re watching and waiting?

Platkin: Well, precisely. The confusion that I was mentioning is directly related to what you just said, Mary Louise, because throughout the day in New Jersey and states across the country couldn’t even access Medicaid systems. Now, the administration has now said they’re not going to include Medicaid, but as of last night, they were and they could change it any hour now. So what we’ve done is gone to the court and said the administration, the president is powerful, but he is not a king. He cannot, with the stroke of a pen override, congressionally authorized spending that supports critical services to millions and millions of Americans, millions of Americans in red states and blue states.

Kelly: One more piece of information. Just as we try to unravel all of this. The White House press secretary tweeted this afternoon at 2:57 p.m. Eastern: “The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected.” They expect the portal to be back online shortly. Given all of the confusion that we’re talking about, are you confident you and your fellow state attorneys general understand the order well enough to bring suit?

Platkin: Absolutely, because we’re taking it at face value. And again, one of the claims we’ve raised in our lawsuit is that they didn’t even attempt to follow proper process for doing something like this. And the reason why we have governmental processes is not some arcane function. It’s precisely so you don’t have confusion amongst the public about critical services. So seniors aren’t left wondering, am I going to be able to stay in my assisted living facility and get my health care? Or am I going to be thrown out in the street and bitterly cold temperatures so parents don’t have to worry if they can take their kids to school. So people don’t have to worry if drug traffickers can run their streets without law enforcement presence. That’s why we have process.

Kelly: One more point to put to you. I mentioned the new White House press secretary. That’s Karoline Leavitt. In her briefing, her first one this afternoon, she said the president is being a good steward of taxpayer dollars, making the point that the federal government maybe shouldn’t be funding programs that are out of line potentially with the president’s agenda. Why do you disagree?

Platkin: Well, there’s a budget process for the president to negotiate what he determines is an appropriate level of spending with Congress. But we’re talking about funds that Congress has already appropriated, that a president has already authorized, and that now millions of people are depending on for critical services. The president, and his administration, did not cite to a single law or legal authority that said he could do what he attempted to do last night, which is why they spent the whole day walking it back. And I feel for the press secretaries that have to try to explain to millions of Americans why their health care, why their safety while their education, why their housing are suddenly jeopardized because the president has a political vendetta and thinks this is all game.

Kelly: To take a step back, I will note that you were on NPR most recently less than a week ago. You were on our sister program, Morning Edition, and in that case, you were talking about the state’s response to an executive action on birthright citizenship. How are you going to prioritize how you will continue to challenge Trump administration policies in court? Are you staffed to to file a new lawsuit every week?

Platkin: Or working very hard? But it’s been very simple. We’re looking at basically two things, is what the president did lawful and constitutional and consistent with the laws of this nation. And does it hurt the residents of our state if what he’s doing is lawful, even if I don’t like it, then that’s his prerogative. He’s a duly elected president. But when he violates the law, when he upends the Constitution, and when he hurts millions of people in my state and in states like New Jersey, across the country, I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and to protect our residents. And I have an obligation to stand up for them when this happens.

Kelly: Last question. We have about a minute left. Trump did campaign, as you know, as a disruptor of the status quo in the federal government. He campaigned on the promise that he would shake things up. He won 77 million votes to do so to the argument that this represents democracy in action. You say what I say.

Platkin: I say we have a constitution and a body of laws, and we are a country that is governed by the rule of law. And what we mean by that is that the president has to adhere to those laws and those constitutional norms. He does not get to decide that he doesn’t want to follow them simply because even like them he’s allowed to put forth his agenda but he has to stay true to the laws of this nation.

This article was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon.