MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul joined a coalition of 22 other attorneys general in seeking a court order to force the Trump administration to unfreeze essential funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Despite multiple court orders, including a preliminary injunction issued on March 6 blocking the Trump administration from unlawfully freezing federal funds, the administration continues to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to states from FEMA.
This funding freeze threatens life-saving emergency preparedness and recovery programs addressing wildfires, floods, cybersecurity threats, and more. Attorney General Kaul and the coalition filed a motion to enforce the preliminary injunction, seeking a court order requiring the administration to immediately stop the freezing of FEMA funds.
“This issue provides another example of how reckless and dangerous the Trump administration’s funding freeze is. The administration has frozen funds that are critical to responding to disasters,” said AG Kaul. “We’ve taken action to ensure that the administration stops withholding these funds.”
The administration’s funding freeze policy, issued through an array of actions including a January 27 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), illegally withheld trillions of dollars in federal funds for states and other entities like nonprofit organizations and community health centers. In the days after the policy was first issued, states could not access Medicaid dollars. Most recently, withheld FEMA funds have jeopardized public safety, disaster response, and emergency preparedness throughout the country. As Attorney General Kaul and the coalition assert in the motion to enforce, further freezing of FEMA funds would end disaster relief efforts and support for more than 4,000 survivors of the 2023 Maui wildfires.
Attorney General Kaul and the coalition sued the administration over its freeze of trillions of dollars in federal funds on January 28, and on January 31, the court granted the attorneys general’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the freeze’s implementation until further order from the court. On February 7, Attorney General Kaul and the coalition filed motions for enforcement and a preliminary injunction to stop the illegal funding freeze. On February 28, Attorney General Kaul and the coalition filed a second motion for enforcement seeking to stop the Trump administration from freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to the states from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). On March 6, Attorney General Kaul and the coalition won a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from unlawfully freezing federal funds to the states. As part of the preliminary injunction, the court required the administration to provide evidence of having unfrozen FEMA funds by March 14. These funds continue to be withheld.
This effort is led by the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Joining the coalition 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.
