Attorney General Bonta, 22 State Attorneys General Secure Court Order Temporarily Blocking Federal Funding Freeze

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island’s decision granting a temporary restraining order to prevent a pause on critical federal assistance funding from going into effect:

“Today’s court order ensures our communities are able to continue to access necessary federal funding for disaster recovery, including for California's wildfire recovery efforts; education; public health and safety; and infrastructure projects. While the OMB directive was rescinded, the Administration has made clear that it intends to proceed with its plans to freeze federal funding – that's why we went to court to get this emergency pause. 

The Trump Administration is intentionally creating chaos through its public actions and statements, attempting to sow fear and confusion in our communities. We will not fall for this bait and switch. California has too much at stake. 

I am grateful for the court’s decision, and I will continue fighting to ensure that the President’s disastrous federal funding freeze never sees the light of day.” 

Attorney General Bonta co-led a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit seeking to block the federal funding freeze on Tuesday.

Today’s decision institutes a temporary restraining order while the states seek a preliminary injunction. While the order is in effect, the Trump Administration may not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate its awards or obligations to provide federal financial assistance unless specifically allowed under the law. The order also blocks the Trump Administration from reissuing, adopting, implementing, or otherwise giving effect to the OMB directive under any other name or title, such as the continued implementation identified by the White House Press Secretary's statement on January 29, 2025. 

The Trump Administration is required to give written notice of this order to all agencies and their employees, contractors, and grantees by Monday, February 3, 2025, at 9 a.m. ET. 

This order extends beyond the administrative stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in response to a lawsuit brought by nonprofit groups that receive federal funds. 

A copy of the decision is available here.