Washington: Ever since Donald Trump was inaugurated as US President for his second term six months ago, in from even before that he has faced dozens of lawsuits across the country.
In the latest case, 24 American states have sued Trump over the freezing of funding to the tune of around $6.8 billion for after-school, summer programmes and other existing federal initatives.
Attorney generals or governors from 2 dozen states and Columbia District sued the Trump administration in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, reported Bloomberg News.
Arguing that the Trump administration violated the American Constitution by not considering Congress’ sole authority over spending, the attorney generals said that the US department of education and the office of management (OMB) and Budget brought chaos to several schools in the country.
They argued that Trump had illegally freezed funding for six programmes approved by Congress.
“This is plainly against the law… against the Constitution, against the Impoundment Act. This is not a hard case,” ABC News quoted North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson as saying.
As per the Impoundment Control Act, 1947, the US President is required to report any withholdings to Congress, which must note and review the executive branch withholdings of budget authority.
Trump administration had already been going after Ivy League universities for weeks and months, taking them head-on. Now freezing of millions and billions of dollars in funding has extended to money used to support migrant farm workers and their childrens’ education, recruitment and training of teachers, English proficiency learning and academic enrichment, besides the after-school and summer programmes.
As per the lawsuit filed against Trump, the government was legally required to release the funds to the states by July 1, Reuters reported. However, on June 30, the Education department notified them that the funds would not be released under those programmes as per the deadline, citing change in administration as the reason.
