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Hindustan Times
21 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Over 20 states sue Trump over $6.8 billion frozen funds for after-school, summer programmes
More than 20 states have sued US President Donald Trump over the freezing of about $6.8 billion in funding for after-school, summer programmes and other programmes. The states have argued that the Donald Trump administration has violated the US Constitution by not considering Congress's sole authority over spending. (Bloomberg) Attorney generals or governors from 24 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island. They argued that the US department of education and the office of management (OMB) and Budget brought chaos to schools across America by freezing funding for six programmes approved by Congress. North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson told ABC News, "This is plainly against the law." He went on to explain from a legal standpoint that this is "against the Constitution, against the Impoundment Act. This is not a hard case". According to the Impoundment Control Act, 1947, Congress must note and review the executive branch withholdings of budget authority. This requires the President to report any such withholdings to Congress. ALSO READ | 20 US states sue Trump administration over sharing of medical aid data with deportation officials While the Trump administration has been going after Ivy League universities head-on, freezing millions and billions of dollars in funding, the freeze also extended to the money used to support migrant farm workers and their childrens' education, recruitment and training of teachers, English proficiency learning and academic enrichment, besides the after-school and summer programmes. The lawsuit filed against Trump said that his administration was legally required to release the funds to the states by July 1, Reuters reported. Instead, the education department notified them on June 30 that the funds would not be released under those programmes as per the deadline, citing the change in administration as its reason. At the time, an OMB spokesperson reportedly said, "ongoing programmatic review" of education funding and said initial findings showed what he termed as a misuse of grant funds to "subsidize a radical leftwing agenda." The department also raised objections to the grant money being used to support scholarship for immigrant students and LGBTQ-themed lessons. The Democratic-led states said that the freeze has resulted in cancellations of summer school and after-school programmes and the halting of other initiatives, with little time for schools to fill in the gaps in their budget. ALSO READ | Trump administration sues California over transgender athletes in schools The states have argued that the Trump administration has violated the US Constitution by not considering Congress's sole authority over spending and went against the federal administrative law by freezing funds without any logical explanation. They also said that the administration failed to abide by the Impoundment Control Act, which prevents the executive branch from single-handedly refusing to spend funds approved by Congress unless certain procedures are followed. Jackson further told ABC News, "If the courts don't act promptly, the consequences will be dire." He warned that districts face the threat of immediate harm as the school year is nearing. The North Carolina Attorney General said that the massive effect of the pause could also result in the firing of about 1,000 educators in the district. "Everybody knows when it comes to juvenile crime, you want a safe place for teenagers to be able to go, to be able to keep them out of trouble," Jackson said, adding that elimination of after-school programmes across the US has never been considered a "good idea". ALSO READ | 12 states sue Donald Trump administration in trade court to stop tariff policy Alabama State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey said that this will affect the students with the "greatest need". He told ABC News, "The loss of funding for those rural, poor, high poverty school districts, is just going to be, you know, more fuel for the fire that makes it more difficult to educate children in those communities." Christy Gleason, executive director of Save the Children Action Network, which provides after-school programming for 41 schools in rural areas of Washington and across the South, where the school year is set to begin as soon as August, said, "Time is of the essence." "It's not too late to make a decision, so the kids who really need this still have it," she added.
India Today
27 minutes ago
- India Today
Lula to sign Brazil's new reciprocal tariff law amid US trade tensions
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will officially sign a new law on Monday that allows Brazil to respond to unfair foreign trade practices. The law, passed by Congress in April, will let the government impose reciprocal tariffs on countries that hurt Brazil's economy with their trade Chief of Staff, Rui Costa, said the decree will be published in Brazil's official gazette on Tuesday. The announcement comes days after US President Donald Trump said he would place a 50% tariff on Brazilian response to Trump's announcement, Brazil is preparing to fight back. Lula's administration plans to match the 50% tariff on US goods entering Brazil. "Brazil is a sovereign nation with independent institutions and will not accept any form of tutelage," Lula said firmly in an X added that the legal matters concerning Brazil's internal governance -- including investigations related to past coup attempts -- are handled solely by Brazil's Judicial Branch and should not be interfered with by any foreign EFFORTS TO AVOID TRADE CONFLICTWhile Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said on Monday that the government has set up a working group to discuss the US tariffs with business leaders. The first meeting will take place Tuesday morning, followed by another session later in the day with agribusiness group plans to keep meeting regularly to find the best solutions. Alckmin said that the tariffs would also hurt US companies, so Brazil will talk to them as well. "US companies will also be hit by the tariffs announced by the US, so we will also talk to them," he CHALLENGES US TRADE FIGURESMeanwhile, Lula questioned the accuracy of US trade deficit claims, saying that the US has actually had a trade surplus with Brazil."The claim regarding a US trade deficit in its commercial relationship with Brazil is inaccurate. Statistics from the US government itself show a surplus of $410 billion in the trade of goods and services with Brazil over the past 15 years," Lula explained.- EndsWith inputs from ReutersTune InMust Watch
India Today
27 minutes ago
- India Today
Supreme Court allows Trump to restart mass layoffs at education department
The US Supreme Court on Monday gave the Trump administration the green light to resume layoffs of over 1,300 employees at the Department of Education and press forward with a controversial plan to dismantle the agency an unsigned order, the justices lifted a lower court's block on the firings, enabling President Donald Trump to push ahead with one of his boldest efforts to shrink the federal government and shift power over education back to the will likely cripple the department,' warned US District Judge Myong Joun of Boston in a previous ruling, which reinstated nearly 1,400 laid-off employees and froze the administration's attempts to redistribute the department's responsibilities to other federal agencies. That ruling was backed by a federal appeals court, but the Supreme Court, in a 6–3 decision with the three liberal justices dissenting, paused the order, clearing the way for the White House to continue winding down the layoffs and departmental shutdown have been opposed by a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general, school districts, and education unions. In court filings, they argued that the administration's actions risk undermining key federal education duties, such as enforcing civil rights, managing student loans, and supporting students with disabilities.'Trump's shutdown efforts threatened to impair the department's ability to perform its core duties,' the plaintiffs Secretary Linda McMahon said it's a 'shame' it took the Supreme Court's intervention to let Trump's plan move ahead.'Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organisation, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies,' McMahon said in a Department of Education, established by Congress in 1979, does not dictate curriculum or classroom instruction—those powers are left to states and localities, which provide the lion's share of school funding. But it plays a critical role in distributing aid to needy schools, ensuring compliance with federal education law, and collecting national data on student Monday, more than 20 states also sued the administration over billions of dollars in frozen education funding for after-school care, summer programs and more. Education Department employees who were targeted by the layoffs have been on paid leave since March, according to a union that represents some of the agency's staff.- EndsTune InMust Watch
