HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced on Monday that a significant amount of federal aid, previously accused of being withheld by President Donald Trump’s administration in an illegal and unconstitutional manner, has been released. According to Shapiro, over $2 billion that had been identified as either frozen or under an ambiguous review process is now available to state agencies.
This development follows Shapiro’s legal action filed on February 13 against the federal government, challenging the Trump administration’s halt on federal funding, a move that had faced numerous rejections from federal courts. These courts had expressed concerns that the administration was disregarding their orders. During a conference in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, Shapiro also privately discussed the matter with senior officials from the Trump administration. The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia, representing the federal entities involved in the lawsuit, declined to provide comments on Monday.
Conversely, Trump administration attorneys, defending themselves in Rhode Island federal court, argued that the funding freeze was lawful, suggesting that the freeze was merely a “pause” to evaluate the optimal use for federal funds. They requested the court to dismiss a preliminary injunction proposed by nearly 24 Democratic states, emphasizing that the situation became irrelevant once the Office of Management and Budget canceled its directive in late January, which had initially suspended federal grants and loans.
The stagnated grant funding identified by Shapiro’s administration largely involved financial allocations authorized by Congress through key legislation signed by former President Joe Biden, notably including his transformative 2022 climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as his 2021 infrastructure legislation. The lawsuit argued that these funds were meant for programs designed to improve energy efficiency in homes, seal abandoned gas wells, reclaim deteriorated mining areas, upgrade municipal water and sewer infrastructures, and incentivize industry efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
The suit named five federal bodies as defendants, including the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Departments of the Interior and Transportation. Apart from the Department of Energy, which stated its adherence to court orders without confirming the release of the contested funds, none of the other agencies involved provided any comments on the litigation.