In a decisive move last week, a federal judge in Rhode Island commanded the federal government to lift all frozen funds immediately. The directive from Judge John J McConnell Jr came after he noticed that federal officials were not following his earlier instructions to unfreeze billions of taxpayer dollars. This was after a messy few months when the federal government had suspended funds meant for those who had earned them. The administration also tried to fine-tune the order to better suit their goals. Only a few weeks earlier, officials had put a halt on dozens of federal loans and grants, only to create confusion when they announced the order wasn't official. The court had already gotten serious about the issue last month. Roughly twenty states filed a lawsuit to stop the freeze, which McConnell agreed with. He went on to point out that the administration's actions were not compliant and that they had even gone against the law by continuing to keep these funds on ice, causing serious problems for states that need the funding. Colorado's governor let the administration know that they were already seeing billions of dollars in hold-ups.  Organizations who had been counting on this money, like local governments, non-profits, and even private companies, were all facing long term project delays.

In the order, McConnell emphasized that the government's actions were unconstitutional and that they had caused a lot of harm across the states. The judge said they had to immediately stop the fund freeze, but he soon decided that he would only enforce the decision until he could step up the restrictions. It seems the judge was trying to get to the bottom of the lawlessness that he saw with the administration's actions. Now, no further details have been reported except that the administration is appealing this action.

Federal Judge Thwarts Massive Funding Freeze in Bold Ruling

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