Axios - A U.S. district judge has ordered several federal agencies to "immediately" resume the flow of nationwide funding under the IRA and the 2021 infrastructure law. The laws provided unprecedented finance for a wide range of projects, but officials at EPA, DOE, Interior and beyond have halted many funds.
Judge Mary S. McElroy wrote in a preliminary injunction that while a president is entitled to enact his agenda, agencies lack "unlimited authority" to further it.
- "[N]or do they have unfettered power to hamstring in perpetuity two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration," the Rhode Island judge who President Trump nominated in 2019 wrote in yesterday's order.
A group of nonprofits and the National Council of Nonprofits sued a suite of agencies and the White House budget office last month.
- It's among multiple suits unfolding against Trump 2.0 efforts to halt funds under the Biden-era laws.
Justice Department lawyers argued in a filing that Congress gave federal agencies "broad discretion to select among eligible recipients of funding."
- The agencies are also "entitled to temporarily pause funding for current recipients to determine whether they wish to redirect that funding elsewhere," they wrote.
- The White House did not provide immediate comment.
McElroy ordered the Trump administration to file a status report on their compliance by late this afternoon.
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