(The Center Square) – Washington state on Tuesday joined 21 other states in suing the administration of President Donald Trump over the Office of Management and Budget sending a memo to federal agencies Monday night directing them to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
The memo created confusion among federal agencies and state governments, including the Evergreen State.
A Tuesday follow-up memo from the White House said that “the pause does not apply across the board” and is “expressly limited” to funding areas like DEI – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – targeted by Trump’s executive orders.
“The White House justifies this damaging move with culture war alarmism, but in reality they’re robbing governments and service providers of funds that keep people safe and serve urgent needs in all of our communities,” Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown said in a news release. “People’s jobs are at stake. Services for veterans are at risk. Health care and education would be taken from children. Programs that support crime victims could vanish. These examples are the tip of the iceberg.”
Brown’s press release mentions that even a temporary loss of federal funding could “drastically worsen Washington’s budget shortfall, and make it nearly impossible for state agencies and the Legislature to intelligently prioritize budgeting needs.”
Some Democrats have said Washington state faces a projected operating budget shortfall of $10 billion to $16 billion over the next four years. However, the Office of Program Research, made up of nonpartisan staff for the Washington State House of Representatives, has estimated a budget shortfall of $6.7 billion for the 2027-2029 biennium.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, contends that the Trump administration’s broad freeze is beyond the scope of its authority and usurps the role of Congress.
The other states involved are New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked parts of Trump’s order minutes before it was to go into effect with an administrative stay that expires on Monday.
AliKhan’s order is in response to a complaint filed earlier Tuesday by the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, the Main Street Alliance and SAGE.
