California Leads Seven States in Suing Trump Administration Over $810 Million Funding Withholding
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon, sued the Trump administration on Oct. 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging its refusal to spend federal funds Congress has lawfully appropriated. The complaint says President Trump announced on Sept. 25, five days before the fiscal year ended, that he would unilaterally rescind about $810 million — a so-called "pocket rescission" — while other appropriated funds, including money for emergency services and education, risk expiring unspent. The seven states argue the withholding violates the Constitution's separation of powers, Appropriations and Presentment Clauses and the Administrative Procedure Act; the U.S. Government Accountability Office has also found the maneuver unlawful. Bonta said Congress, not the President, holds the power of the purse, and that disliking a program does not allow the President to defund it on his own.
(Source: California Attorney General's office; Reuters)
Source: California Attorney General's office; Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
