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By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -A U.S. judge blocked President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday from freezing billions of dollars in grants Congress authorized under climate investment and infrastructure laws of his Democratic predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Providence, Rhode Island, issued an injunction at the behest of environmental groups who argued the Trump administration was unlawfully freezing already-awarded funding for projects to combat climate change, reduce pollution and modernize U.S. infrastructure.
"Agencies do not have unlimited authority to further a President’s agenda, nor do they have unfettered power to hamstring in perpetuity two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration," McElroy said.
The group that led the lawsuit, Democracy Forward, said in a statement that Trump's action was an abuse of executive power.
“By blocking these investments in local communities and projects, the administration is jeopardizing public health initiatives, environmental protections, and economic stability," Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said.
The agencies named in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The funding had been authorized by Congress pursuant to Biden's $1-trillion bill known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and his signature 2022 climate investment law, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Trump froze the funds on his first day back in office by signing an executive order directing agencies to pause funding approved under those two laws, pending a review to ensure the spending supported his policies.
Following that order, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Interior, and Housing and Urban Development each paused the distribution of grant funding.
In a lawsuit filed on March 13, the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, National Council of Nonprofits, Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District and Green Infrastructure Center argued the agencies lacked authority to unilaterally withhold already-awarded congressionally-authorized funds.
They said the agencies froze the money despite earlier rulings by another judge in Rhode Island, who at the urging of a group of Democratic-led states, blocked the administration from carrying out a sweeping, blanket freeze on $3 trillion in federal grants, loans and other financial assistance.
The Trump administration countered it was entitled to temporarily pause funding for those currently awarded grants to decide whether to redirect funding elsewhere, and that the Rhode Island judge lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
The U.S. Department of Justice said its position was bolstered after the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling on April 4 cleared the way for the administration to terminate millions of dollars in teacher training grants as part of Trump's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.\
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Nate Raymond and Jack Queen; Editing by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)
