RI chief judge: Trump administration ‘put itself above Congress’ with spending freezes
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island John J. McConnell, Jr. granted an injunction from 23 states blocking the Trump administration’s “categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds.”
According to McConnell’s ruling in the 23 states’ (Including Rhode Island and Massachusetts) action against the administration’s spending freezes:
The interaction of the three co-equal branches of government is an intricate, delicate, and sophisticated balance—but it is crucial to our form of constitutional governance. Here, the Executive put itself above Congress. It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.
It goes on to say that the Trump administration could only impose the freezes on appropriated funds if the action were to be authorized by Congress.
