So it's illegal - and what exactly is the legal remedy? Who files the lawsuits (and are they doing it)? Do these get appealed to ... SCOTUS? If so, what happens to the distribution of these funds in the meantime if lapdogs like Speaker Johnson refuse to act? What a nightmare.
Update: I just saw that a collection of AG's led by Tish James (NY) had a press conference today and are demanding an immediate block to OMB's freeze.
These are early days and certainly, there could be a challenge to Train (the decision that affirmed the Impoundment Control Act), and it's hard to know what the Supreme Court could decide.
Jay Kuo's newsletter claims that "Much of the money could and likely would be held up for months or indefinitely" (not sure if that is accurate, but it's frightening if true).
Chuck Schumer made a statement after the memo came out condemning this “lawlessness and chaos” as Trump’s administration holds up “virtually all vital funds that support programs in every community across the country...If this continues, the American people will pay an awful price...It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities.”
The vulnerable will already be missing medications, rent payments, etc. if this isn't immediately addressed, and I don't understand what mechanism of reversal or enforcement of the law will do that.
Some pushback this afternoon; stay into the first week of February. There’s a lot happening, it’s a long struggle… but there are opportunities to work against this stuff and people are working on it. The point of this onslaught of orders is to exhaust everyone, so take care and don’t despair!
Thanks for the pep talk - it is a lot to absorb this week. So grateful that we have impressive legal and legislative minds fighting for our democracy and the vulnerable - and for informative resources like this.
To whom will opponents of this flagrant violation of law by the executive branch appeal for correction? The lives and welfare of countless people, citizens and non-citizens, are in jeopardy.
MAGA Republicans as well as everyone else. Cutting these funds that affect the Republican base may showcase the fatal flaw of project 2025 plan. We can expect more of these pain inducing blunders going forward. The Maga Republican working class voters who have depended on these funds to make ends meet will have to deal with the reality of who and what Trump is.
I have to admit that I am literally out of breath! I can't really wrap my head around this. I have no bromides and no solutions except to say...that we created, and elected, this monster. Lots to think about. Jean Paul Sartre...are you there? Jimmy Baldwin...are you there? Martin Luther King...are you there? Hannah Arendt...are you there?
Is the remedy lawsuits? Do the resources exist (lawyers and money) to challenge all of these actions in every jurisdiction, presumably with the taxpayer-funded DOJ defending them? And once the legal challenges and resulting delays are overcome and decisions reached, if these actions are found to be unlawful, how will they be enforced? The last question speaks to whether this is a coup.
These neo-fascists are sick. That is why I named them “psychopathic neo-fascists”. Fundamentally, psychopathy is their malady, and neo-fascism is their political ideology. I cannot make it more clear than that.
I was glad to see you on Morning Joe today. When they finally got around to giving you a chance to speak, you delivered brilliantly. Calling out the gestapo raids as bread and circus distractions in order to enrich his cronies was spot on. I was then somewhat shocked and disappointed that your remarks engendered no followup. Maybe she was just fighting the clock, but Mika's "moving on to other stories now..." felt disrespectful.
“what Trump and Vought are attempting to do here is not just dangerous, but illegal. This is breaking the law, pure and simple — illegal and unconstitutional”
Rule of Law? Meet Law of Rule. Recall 1st term Donald Trump: “There’s this little thing called Article II. It basically says I can do whatever I want.“
Russ Vought wrote the Project 2025 chapter on the Executive Office of the President of the United States - https://www.project2025.org/policy/
Paragraph 1: "Sadly, however, a President today assumes office to find a sprawling federal bureaucracy that all too often is carrying out its own policy plans and preferences—or, worse yet, the policy plans and preferences of a radical, supposedly “woke” faction of the country."
They definitely are not hiding their intentions...
So it's illegal - and what exactly is the legal remedy? Who files the lawsuits (and are they doing it)? Do these get appealed to ... SCOTUS? If so, what happens to the distribution of these funds in the meantime if lapdogs like Speaker Johnson refuse to act? What a nightmare.
Update: I just saw that a collection of AG's led by Tish James (NY) had a press conference today and are demanding an immediate block to OMB's freeze.
These are early days and certainly, there could be a challenge to Train (the decision that affirmed the Impoundment Control Act), and it's hard to know what the Supreme Court could decide.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/01/28/can-trump-cancel-government-funds-through-impoundment-what-to-know-as-he-pauses-all-federal-assistance/
Meanwhile State AGs are suing now: https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3lgt57zuf222j; Congressional Democrats are looking to exercise what power they have https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/28/congress/omb-vought-confirmation-trump-00200951
Jay Kuo's newsletter claims that "Much of the money could and likely would be held up for months or indefinitely" (not sure if that is accurate, but it's frightening if true).
Chuck Schumer made a statement after the memo came out condemning this “lawlessness and chaos” as Trump’s administration holds up “virtually all vital funds that support programs in every community across the country...If this continues, the American people will pay an awful price...It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities.”
The vulnerable will already be missing medications, rent payments, etc. if this isn't immediately addressed, and I don't understand what mechanism of reversal or enforcement of the law will do that.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/trump-medicaid-funding-freeze-paused.html
Some pushback this afternoon; stay into the first week of February. There’s a lot happening, it’s a long struggle… but there are opportunities to work against this stuff and people are working on it. The point of this onslaught of orders is to exhaust everyone, so take care and don’t despair!
Thanks for the pep talk - it is a lot to absorb this week. So grateful that we have impressive legal and legislative minds fighting for our democracy and the vulnerable - and for informative resources like this.
To whom will opponents of this flagrant violation of law by the executive branch appeal for correction? The lives and welfare of countless people, citizens and non-citizens, are in jeopardy.
OMG OMG OMG. Dust off your muskets fellow citizens, this is the real F***ING DEAL, a naked power grab that won't quit until we stop it.
I was expecting a move like this. It affects
MAGA Republicans as well as everyone else. Cutting these funds that affect the Republican base may showcase the fatal flaw of project 2025 plan. We can expect more of these pain inducing blunders going forward. The Maga Republican working class voters who have depended on these funds to make ends meet will have to deal with the reality of who and what Trump is.
I have to admit that I am literally out of breath! I can't really wrap my head around this. I have no bromides and no solutions except to say...that we created, and elected, this monster. Lots to think about. Jean Paul Sartre...are you there? Jimmy Baldwin...are you there? Martin Luther King...are you there? Hannah Arendt...are you there?
Is the remedy lawsuits? Do the resources exist (lawyers and money) to challenge all of these actions in every jurisdiction, presumably with the taxpayer-funded DOJ defending them? And once the legal challenges and resulting delays are overcome and decisions reached, if these actions are found to be unlawful, how will they be enforced? The last question speaks to whether this is a coup.
These neo-fascists are sick. That is why I named them “psychopathic neo-fascists”. Fundamentally, psychopathy is their malady, and neo-fascism is their political ideology. I cannot make it more clear than that.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/mentally-impaired-psychopathic-neo?r=3m1bs
Is there a back-up to the DOJ database on Jan. 6 that's been removed?
Hey Anand,
I was glad to see you on Morning Joe today. When they finally got around to giving you a chance to speak, you delivered brilliantly. Calling out the gestapo raids as bread and circus distractions in order to enrich his cronies was spot on. I was then somewhat shocked and disappointed that your remarks engendered no followup. Maybe she was just fighting the clock, but Mika's "moving on to other stories now..." felt disrespectful.
“what Trump and Vought are attempting to do here is not just dangerous, but illegal. This is breaking the law, pure and simple — illegal and unconstitutional”
Rule of Law? Meet Law of Rule. Recall 1st term Donald Trump: “There’s this little thing called Article II. It basically says I can do whatever I want.“
Russ Vought wrote the Project 2025 chapter on the Executive Office of the President of the United States - https://www.project2025.org/policy/
Paragraph 1: "Sadly, however, a President today assumes office to find a sprawling federal bureaucracy that all too often is carrying out its own policy plans and preferences—or, worse yet, the policy plans and preferences of a radical, supposedly “woke” faction of the country."
They definitely are not hiding their intentions...