Abdelrahman
Federal Aid Release in Pennsylvania: Governor Shapiro’s Statements on Trump Administration Funding
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — On Monday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced that the administration of President Donald Trump has made billions in federal aid available—funds that Shapiro previously claimed were being unlawfully withheld.
During a press briefing, Shapiro revealed that over $2 billion has been unlocked for state agencies, funds that had been previously frozen or stalled due to an unspecified review process.
In a federal lawsuit filed on February 13, Shapiro challenged the aid situation after federal courts consistently rejected the Trump administration’s controversial freeze on federal funding, suggesting that the administration might have been ignoring court rulings.
Shapiro also mentioned that he engaged with senior officials from the Trump administration while in Washington, D.C., over the past weekend. However, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Philadelphia, which represents the federal bodies named in the lawsuit, did not provide immediate comments on the matter.
In a separate federal court in Rhode Island, lawyers representing the Trump administration defended the freeze as a legal action, requesting a judge to dismiss appeals from around 22 Democratic states seeking a preliminary injunction against the funding halt.
The administration’s legal team described the freeze as a temporary "pause" intended for reevaluating how to best allocate federal funds. They argued that the issue had become moot since the Office of Management and Budget had rescinded its memo that initially imposed the funding freeze in late January, which affected various federal grants and loans.
The majority of the delayed funding identified by Shapiro’s administration stems from legislative acts signed into law by former President Joe Biden, such as the landmark 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the infrastructure law enacted in 2021.
The lawsuit claims that funds were being withheld from essential programs designed to enhance energy efficiency in homes, seal abandoned gas wells, rehabilitate polluted mining sites, upgrade community water and sewer systems, and support industries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The lawsuit named five federal entities as defendants: the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Departments of the Interior and Transportation.
While most have not publicly addressed the lawsuit, the Department of Energy acknowledged its adherence to court orders but did not clarify whether it had indeed released the funds that Shapiro’s administration accused it of retaining.
–––
For updates from Marc Levy, you can follow him on X: https://x.com/timelywriter
