Judge Signals Plan To Further Block Trump Spending Freeze

A federal judge expressed concern Monday that the Trump administration is continuing to implement a blanket freeze on federal spending despite two court orders to pause it during ongoing lawsuits.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan said some nonprofits continued to be hampered by the freeze and still couldn’t access promised funding, an obstacle she said appeared to be a direct result of the Trump White House’s week-old freeze. That’s despite AliKhan’s ruling last week, along with another from a federal judge in Rhode Island, blocking the White House from implementing the funding freeze while litigation is pending.

AliKhan said she was prepared to issue another, broader block on the White House’s policy by Monday afternoon, a short-term victory for nonprofits who say the Trump administration’s rushed effort may have crossed legal boundaries.

The Justice Department argued that AliKhan had no authority to continue blocking the spending freeze. Not only has the order already been rescinded by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, argued Justice Department attorney Daniel Schwei, but federal agencies have authority to make their own decisions regarding spending that don’t depend on OMB’s order. It would be inappropriate for the judge to effectively “superintend” spending by the Executive Branch, Schwei said.

But AliKhan rejected that premise, saying some programs appeared to have been frozen solely because of the original freeze — with no evidence that any agency had made an independent decision.

AliKhan also appeared to reject DOJ arguments that the existing block from the judge in Rhode Island was sufficient reason for her to stand aside.

The issue roiled Washington last week when, after OMB issued a memo directing federal agencies to put a hold on all spending other than Medicare and Social Security. After an outcry, OMB withdrew the memo, but hours later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt contended that the withdrawal of the memo had no effect on the spending freeze, which she said was still in effect.