RI judge gives Trump administration reprieve from having to unfreeze FEMA funds. What to know.

• A federal judge has temporarily paused his order requiring FEMA to release funds to states that were frozen by the Trump administration.
• The judge’s decision to stay his order came after the Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that the government could suspend payments for a teacher placement program.
• Several states, including Rhode Island, argued that their case is different because it involves broader freezes on obligated funds, not just grants from a single program.

PROVIDENCE – The Trump administration has won reprieve for now from an order by a federal court in Rhode Island directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to start releasing Congressionally authorized funds to states.

Chief U.S. District Court John J. McConnell Jr. on Friday ordered FEMA to resume the flow of money to a group of Democratic states, including Rhode Island, that have challenged President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze.

But later that day, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order in a separate case related to the funding freeze that administration lawyers said in a court filing “plainly vindicates the government’s position” in the case being argued in U.S. District Court in Providence.

On Monday, McConnell agreed to temporarily stay his order on the FEMA funds while he considers the government’s request to reconsider the ruling.

Supreme Court order leads to change in this case

The case was filed by 23 states and the District of Columbia after the president signed a series of executive orders freezing funds to programs that didn’t align with the new administration’s policy positions on issues such as climate change and diversity.

McConnell has issued several decisions ordering the government to start making payments on obligated funds and a federal appeals court has also corroborated his rulings.

The government, in an emergency motion filed on Saturday, argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in a case involving an Education Department grant program required McConnell to reconsider his order.

In its 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the government was allowed to suspend payments for the program that places teachers in poor and rural areas, saying it’s unlikely the administration would be able to recover the money once it had been paid out and that the plaintiffs would be able to seek any funds that were wrongfully withheld.

The government said the same facts held in the case filed in Rhode Island.

“This Court should therefore proceed cautiously before ordering the government to take actions that can never be reversed,” the government wrote in its motion.

The states suing the government in the case, however, say their grievances are different from the Department of Education suit. While the education case is centered on grants from an individual program that were canceled, the Rhode Island case involves “broad, categorical freezes of obligated funds,” the states argued in their response in opposition to the government’s motion.

Trump order is holding up FEMA disaster aid

McConnell ordered the government to resume FEMA payments at the request of the states. They said they haven’t received any payments from the agency since February.

Hawaii has been unable to access $5.7 million in relief funds for the 2023 Maui wildfires, Oregon says it is waiting on $129.4 million that it’s still owed, Colorado says it’s waiting on approval for $33 million in reimbursements, and Rhode Island says payments from the10 FEMA grants it’s been awarded have been unavailable for more than 30 days, according to court filings.

In total, 19 of the plaintiff states say they are still awaiting payments on at least 215 FEMA grants.