A federal appeals court is allowing the Trump administration to terminate $16 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration to combat greenhouse gas emissions.
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit lifted a lower court’s order that blocked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from terminating the grants.
The court concluded that a different court should have handled the claims -- the Court of Federal Claims, which handles contract disputes -- and that the Trump administration should be able to “ensure the proper oversight and management” of the multi-billion-dollar fund.
“EPA’s actions here are well within the Executive Branch’s authority and responsibility to manage the expenditure of funds and to ensure that money appropriated by Congress is properly spent for its intended purposes,” Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, wrote.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Cornelia Pillard criticized her colleagues for passing the case to another court, writing that the move “undercuts” the ability of the court to prevent the “illegitimate seizure” of funds already awarded by Congress.
“Embracing a misguided and breathtakingly expansive conception of the Tucker Act, the majority allows the government to seize Plaintiffs’ money based on spurious and pretextual allegations and to permanently gut implementation of major congressional legislation designed to improve the infrastructure, health, and economic security of communities throughout the country,” Pillard wrote.
-ABC News' Perry Charalambous and Matthew Glasser
