A federal judge spanked the Trump administration Monday over its handling of the government funding pause, saying that despite several court orders and the White House’s efforts, some agencies are still blocking money from going out the door.
Judge Loren AliKhan said she’ll likely issue a temporary order later in the day directing the government to get the money moving again.
She suggested President Trump’s team has created a mess with its initial pause, issued by the Office of Management and Budget, and attempts to clean it up haven’t worked.
That includes a confusing social media post by the White House press secretary that sowed even more confusion about what Mr. Trump is trying to accomplish.
“I can’t cross-examine a tweet,” said the judge, who sits in the U.S. District Court for D.C.
OMB declared the pause on Jan. 27, ordering all federal agencies to halt some “financial assistance” while they review whether it was consistent with the law and Mr. Trump’s own goals. Confusion ensued, and the administration spent the next few days trying to clarify.
By then, Judge AliKhan had stepped in with her own pause of the pause — officially an “administrative stay” to give her time to hear arguments.
She said Monday she will now turn that into a temporary restraining order, because there is too much evidence that people with government grants and contracts aren’t able to get at that money.
Separately, a federal judge in Rhode Island late last week issued a different order pausing the pause — though there was a debate in the D.C. courtroom on Monday about the extent of the Rhode Island ruling.
Things have become complicated by the sheer volume of Mr. Trump’s early actions.
In addition to the OMB pause, the Justice Department says the president himself has issued seven executive orders that also include funding pauses on everything from “woke” spending to foreign aid to climate change money.
Daniel Schwei, the Justice Department lawyer defending Mr. Trump’s position, said any money still on hold right now is either because of the president or because agencies are making their own decisions — and the OMB memo is no longer controlling anything.
“The fundamental question in this case is whether the president and his advisers can tell agencies that, consistent with their statutory authorities, they should pause funding to ensure the funding is consistent with the president’s priorities,” he said.
Those challenging the memo, though, pointed to a slew of declarations from organizations that normally get federal money, who said as recently as this weekend that they are still shut out.
“We have been inundated while working on this case this week with people contacting us who are having these problems,” said Kevin Friedl, the lawyer for the challengers.
Complicating the situation was that after Judge AliKhan’s initial pause of the pause, OMB issued a new memo seemingly rescinding the funding pause. But Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, then posted on X that it was “not a rescission of the federal funding freeze.” She said it was “simply a rescission of the OMB memo.”
The sides fought Monday over what that meant.
Mr. Schwei said it means the OMB memo isn’t in effect, but Mr. Trump’s executive orders halting spending are.
Judge AliKahn was not sold.
She said there seemed to be no explanation for some of the paused funding other than the OMB memo, which is proof that it is still blocking some people from getting money they are due.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.