Pennsylvania governor says Trump administration has unfrozen billions in grants and loans

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday that the Trump administration has freed up billions in federal aid that the Democrat had accused it of withholding illegally and unconstitutionally.

Shapiro said in a news conference that more than $2 billion that his administration had identified as either frozen or held up by an unspecified review was now accessible to state agencies.

Shapiro sued in federal court over the aid on Feb. 13, after federal courts had repeatedly rejected the Trump administration’s sweeping pause on federal funding and questioned whether the Trump administration was ignoring court orders.

Shapiro said he pressed his case in conversations with senior Trump administration officials while he was in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia, which represents the federal agencies named in the lawsuit, declined to comment Monday.

In federal court in Rhode Island, Trump administration lawyers, however, have argued that the government’s move to freeze funds was legal and asked a judge to reject a request by nearly two dozen Democratic states for a preliminary injunction.

Administration lawyers characterized the freeze as simply a “pause” to consider how best to use federal funds. They contended the case was moot since the Office of Management and Budget had rescinded its memo in late January freezing federal grants and loans.

Much of the stalled grant funding identified by Shapiro’s administration was passed by Congress in signature laws signed by former President Biden, including his landmark 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and his 2021 infrastructure law.

The lawsuit said aid was being withheld from programs that distribute money to upgrade energy efficiency in homes, plug abandoned gas wells, clean up abandoned mine land, improve municipal water and sewer systems, and reimburse industry for cutting their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Five federal agencies were named as defendants: the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Energy, Interior and Transportation.

None have commented on the lawsuit, except the Department of Energy, which said it was complying with the court orders. However, the department didn’t say whether it had released funding that Shapiro’s administration accused it of holding up.

Levy writes for the Associated Press.