Dem
47
GOP
53
One of Donald Trump's key governing techniques is to order (state) officials to do something and threaten to withhold congressionally appropriated funds if they refuse. Many have refused and have had funds blocked. This is called impoundment. It is forbidden in most cases by the 1974 Impoundment Control Act. The Act was passed by Congress because Richard Nixon also impounded funds and Congress didn't like it one bit.
One glaring case in particular is the $12 billion Congress appropriated for building a rail tunnel under the Hudson River, to connect New York with New Jersey. The existing tunnels and bridges are completely saturated and a new connection is badly needed. The River is actually quite shallow—around 40 feet in most places—so tunneling is more cost-effective than building a bridge.
Trump told the two governors to get rid of all DEI requirements and they refused. The result was Trump freezing all the funding for the tunnel. Nice fellow that he is, Trump made Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) an offer he could—and did—refuse: If Schumer would arrange for New York's Penn Station to be renamed Trump Station and Washington's Dulles Airport to be renamed Trump Airport, he would relent.
Instead, the states went to court over this because impoundment violates federal law. In February, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas, a Joe Biden appointee, temporarily ordered Trump to release the funds until she could rule on the merits of the case. Now she has ruled that Trump's argument has no merit at all. Nothing in federal law allows the president to freeze congressionally appropriated funds just because a governor won't follow his orders, not to mention that impounding funds is nearly always illegal. Vargas' new order is permanent. Trump must now release all the funds and not freeze them again. Trump has lost a number of similar cases. Usually he grudgingly complies in the end and then moves on. If he flat-out refuses, it is not clear what would happen next. (V)