Gabrielle Towson <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ELR Staffer FLS \u201826<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On March 13, 2025, the environmental law nonprofit, Earthjustice sued the Trump administration for \u201cunlawfully withholding grant funds appropriated by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).\u201d<\/a> The lawsuit, brought on behalf of several U.S. farmers and non-profit organizations, challenges the administration\u2019s decision to freeze $18 billion in funding for various programs implemented under the IRA by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These areas include agricultural conservation, renewable energy projects for rural communities and farmers, forestry restoration, and fuel reduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The dispute stems from Executive Order \u201cUnleashing American Energy,\u201d signed by President Trump on his first day in office. The Executive Order directs federal agencies to \u201cimmediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the IRA<\/a>\u201d and to review their grants for alignment with the administration\u2019s energy and economic policies. Following this directive, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) instructed agencies, including the USDA, to halt all IRA grant disbursements, even for existing grantees performing projects with already obligated funds. As a result, agencies cut off grant recipients\u2019 access to payment portals, refused to process invoices, canceled check-in meetings, and failed to respond to grantees\u2019 requests for clarification. According to a recent analysis from the University of Illinois, $12.5 billion of the funds remain unreleased. Six states \u2013 Arkansas, California, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas \u2013 stand to lose over $400 million each if this funding is not allocated.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In its lawsuit, Earthjustice argues that the administration\u2019s \u201cindefinite and indiscriminate<\/a>\u201d withholding of funds violates both the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The complaint asserts that the funding freeze is \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d and \u201ccontrary to law<\/a>,\u201d exceeding the administration\u2019s executive authority by effectively overriding Congress\u2019s explicit funding directives. According to Earthjustice, the administration\u2019s withholding of funds has had devastating and immediate consequences for Plaintiffs, many farmers, and nonprofit organizations. The abrupt halt in funding has forced some grantees to consider layoffs or furloughs, while others risk abandoning projects they have already invested substantial time and resources into. Additionally, some recipients have been left financially responsible for costs the government promised to cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Earthjustice is now seeking a court order compelling the Trump administration to lift the funding freeze and disburse all previously approved IRA grants. This case highlights broader legal questions concerning executive authority, congressional appropriations, and the limits of administrative discretion. As litigation unfolds, its outcome could have lasting implications for environmental funding, administrative law, and the implementation of congressionally mandated programs under future administrations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gabrielle Towson ELR Staffer FLS \u201826 On March 13, 2025, the environmental law nonprofit, Earthjustice sued the Trump administration for \u201cunlawfully withholding grant funds appropriated by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).\u201d The lawsuit,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,13,16,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-admin-law","category-energy","category-forest","category-land-preservation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}