Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday joined an ongoing federal lawsuit of 23 Democratic attorneys general from other states and D.C. against the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking to block what they allege is an illegal and unconstitutional freeze on federal funding already appropriated by Congress.
In late January, the judge in the original lawsuit issued a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to resume the funding — which had been halted days earlier through a memo that caused confusion across the country. On Monday, the judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion to enforce the now-violated restraining order, as they showed evidence that the administration has “continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds.”
Beshear announced his office was joining the lawsuit at his Thursday afternoon press conference, saying Kentucky has “already seen the harms that this illegal freeze has caused.”
In addition to being unable to access federal funds from Medicaid and the Appalachian Regional Commission for a day in January, Beshear said Kentucky is currently unable to get more than $6 million in funds to repair abandoned mine lands and reimbursements from more than $7 million in other reimbursements.
“While the overall Freeze has been blocked by a federal judge, we still see areas that are not complying with the order from that judge, so we're going to be aggressive,” Beshear said. “This is funding that the people of Kentucky are owed.”
The amended complaint adding Kentucky to the lawsuit cites some examples of federal funding that the state has been cut off from. It states that the Department for Local Government is unable to access $733,256 in appropriated and obligated funds from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the Economic Development Administration Partnership Planning Grant.
The complaint also states that Kentucky “currently has 14 presidentially declared disasters for which it is relying on FEMA for assistance and reimbursement,” adding that the funding freeze “impedes these critical disbursements and will continue to harm disaster relief, management, and recovery.”
Beshear said his joining the lawsuit is “not about being with Democrat this or Republican that, it's having Kentucky in a place where we can make the federal government meet its promised obligations.”
The governor compared this situation to when he was attorney general during the administration of former Gov. Matt Bevin. In that case, he successfully sued Bevin for not delivering funds to state universities that were appropriated by the Kentucky General Assembly.
Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro filed his own federal lawsuit Thursday on behalf of the state against the Trump administration over the same federal funding freeze.
This story will be updated.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
