Attorneys General Peter Neronha of Rhode Island and Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts have joined a coalition of other AGs in suing the Trump Administration over its sudden freeze in federal spending via grants, loans and other avenues.
“What a ham-handed way to run the government,” Neronha said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
In total, attorneys general from 22 states and Washington, D.C. joined the lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island on Tuesday. They described the executive branch’s freezing of federal funds as “unconstitutional,” “unlawful” and “reckless.”
“The president’s directive to pause federal aid, simply put, violates the separation of powers,” Campbell said. Massachusetts, she said, received more than $20 billion in federal funding last year.
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.