Trump Administration Complies with Judge’s Order on FEMA Payments

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Trump administration announced on Thursday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) made over $2.2 billion in payments to various states over the last three weeks, ensuring compliance with a judge’s order that had previously blocked a sweeping pause on federal grants, loans, and other financial aid.

On April 4, U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration had violated his earlier order by halting disbursements since early February for a ‘manual review’ of grants without a clear end date.

In a court filing on Thursday, the administration provided McConnell with a list of payments made by FEMA to 22 states and the District of Columbia, whose Democratic attorneys general initiated the lawsuit. Justice Department lawyers clarified that FEMA had already begun processing these payments before the court’s ruling.

“Defendants respectfully submit that they have fully complied with the Court’s Order,” the government lawyers stated.

The lawsuit is led by New York and Rhode Island, with other plaintiff states including California, Illinois, and Massachusetts.

Since his inauguration on January 20, Trump has enacted numerous executive actions aiming to reshape policies related to government spending, immigration enforcement, and university relations. However, the administration is facing over 200 legal challenges related to these policies, with critics arguing that it has been slow to adhere to adverse judicial rulings.

This case follows a funding freeze first announced in a January 27 memo by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which was rescinded once litigation commenced.

Judge McConnell, appointed by former President Barack Obama, stated in a March 6 order that the Trump administration had “put itself above Congress,” infringing on the separation of powers.

In a separate development on Thursday, the Trump administration filed an appeal against a February 25 order by a Washington, D.C. judge, which also blocked the funding freeze.