Attorney General Mayes Sues President Trump for Illegally Withholding Essential Federal Funding

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined a multistate lawsuit to stop the implementation of a new Trump administration policy that orders the withholding of trillions of dollars in funding that every state in the country relies on to provide essential services to millions of Americans. The new policy, issued by the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), puts an indefinite pause on the majority of federal assistance to states.The policy would immediately jeopardize state programs that provide critical health and childcare services to families in need, deliver support to public schools, combat hate crimes and violence against women, provide life-saving disaster relief to states, and more. Attorney General Mayes and the coalition of attorneys general are seeking a court order to immediately stop the enforcement of the OMB policy and preserve essential funding.  

“This lawless and chaotic order attempts to steal allocated dollars that have been included in state budgets. This will impact our ability to protect our residents and conduct basic everyday programs like funding for healthcare and food for children,” said Attorney General Mayes. “Donald Trump is attempting to illegally implement his radical Project 2025 agenda with catastrophic results. We will not allow him to do so.”   

The OMB policy, issued late on January 27, directs all federal agencies to indefinitely pause the majority of federal assistance funding and loans to states and other entities beginning at 5:00 pm today, January 28.As Attorney General Mayes and the coalition note in their lawsuit, OMB’s policy has caused immediate chaos and uncertainty for millions of Americans who rely on state programs that receive these federal funds. Essential community health centers, addiction and mental health treatment programs, services for people with disabilities, and other critical health services are jeopardized by OMB’s policy.  

Attorney General Mayes and the coalition also argue that jeopardizing state funds will put Americans in danger by depriving law enforcement of much-needed resources. OMB’s policy would pause support for the U.S. Department of Justice's initiatives to combat hate crimes and violence against women, support community policing, and provide services to victims of crimes.In addition, Attorney General Mayes and the coalition of attorneys general note that the OMB policy would halt essential disaster relief funds to places like California and North Carolina, where tens of thousands of residents are relying on FEMA grants to rebuild their lives after devastating wildfires and floods.  

“Where are the Republicans and why aren’t they standing up for law enforcement and against this illegal money grab? They sure as hell aren’t standing up for law enforcement or the people of Arizona,” said Attorney General Mayes.    

The lawsuit highlights the staggering threat to public safety if this pause goes into effect. Funds would be cut off for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program, which is our coordinated frontline effort with the federal government to combat the fentanyl crisis and battle the Mexican drug cartels. Just last night, agents collaborating through HIDTA seized 500 pounds of methamphetamine, keeping these drugs off of the streets of Arizona. Across the state, the HIDTA program supports 27 initiatives, or drug task forces, and helps fund 704 full-time and 33 part time Arizona law enforcement officers. 

Beyond public safety, this illegal federal spending pause will have other devastating impacts to the state of Arizona: 

• More than 460,000 Arizona households rely on SNAP benefits to afford dinner on their table every night. And nearly 1 million Arizona children rely on federally provided school lunch and breakfast 
• HeadStart, childcare and preschool for low-income children, serves more than 15,00 children in Arizona and more than 13,000 families-- that’s 13,000 Arizona parents who might have to stay home from work in the coming days due to the loss of childcare. 
• Tens of thousands of Arizona households rely on Section 8 housing support to afford their rent every month, including more than 7,000 renters in Phoenix alone. 
• The nearly 630,000 Arizona families who qualify for federal assistance with their utility bills under LIHEAP could literally be left out in the cold—and lose their air conditioning in the summer. 
• 17 Critical Access Hospitals and 55 Rural Health Clinics in Arizona could shutter without the federal funding they rely on. Emergency medical responder and critical care paramedic programs at seven rural EMS agencies in Arizona could be impacted. 
• And more than 2 million Arizonans would lose their health coverage through Medicaid pursuant to this action by Donald Trump. 

While the administration has attempted to clarify the scope and meaning of the OMB policy, states have already reported that funds have been frozen, jeopardizing services like Medicaid across the country. As part of their lawsuit, Attorney General Mayes and the coalition of attorneys general argue that OMB’s policy violates the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act by imposing a government-wide stop to spending without any regard for the laws and regulations that govern each source of federal funding.The attorneys general argue that the president cannot decide to unilaterally override laws governing federal spending, and that OMB’s policy unconstitutionally overrides Congress’s power to decide how federal funds are spent.  

This lawsuit was led by the attorneys general of New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Joining the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. 

Original source can be found here.