The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s pause on disbursing grants to states was previously paused.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) improperly withheld grants from states, in violation of a court ruling, a federal judge said on April 4.
“FEMA’s manual review process violates the Court’s preliminary injunction order,” U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.
wrote in a 15-page decision.
FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McConnell on Jan. 31 entered a temporary restraining order that blocked FEMA and other federal agencies from pausing or canceling grants to 23 states and Washington. The order blocked compliance with an Office of Management and Budget memorandum directing officials to freeze funds.
The judge said at the time that the Executive Branch’s suspension of federal assistance to states and others cited no legal authority and that “no federal law would authorize the Executive’s unilateral action.”
McConnell in March transitioned the block to a preliminary injunction, which usually remains in place until a case is resolved in favor of one party or the other. The order was
upheld by an appeals court, which rejected government arguments that the decision was too broad.
State officials
told McConnell in a recent filing that despite the injunction, they’re experiencing “significant obstacles to accessing federal funds.” They said that Oregon is waiting for $129.4 million in federal funds, while Colorado is due more than $33 million in reimbursements from FEMA, because of a manual review process that FEMA is using.
The states asked McConnell to issue an order enforcing the injunction.
Government officials
said in response that the manual review process is being used but that the court’s order “does not regulate agencies’ timing for reviewing and approving grant payments; it prohibits agencies from freezing grant payments.”
They added later, “FEMA intends to make appropriate payments under the relevant grants, which forecloses Plaintiffs’ allegations of a continued ‘pause’ or ‘freeze.’”
McConnell said the process, based on evidence presented by the states, is being implemented covertly and that it “essentially imposes an indefinite categorical pause on payments.”
He said later that the process violates his injunction.
The new decision directs FEMA to immediately stop the manual review process and to “immediately comply with the plain text of the preliminary injunction order not to pause or otherwise impede the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to the States” based on an executive order from President Donald Trump.
FEMA must send notice of the new order, and the previously entered injunction, to FEMA leaders and all FEMA staff who administer the grants in question, the judge also said.
