BOSTON (AP) - Attorneys general from more than 20 states and Washington, D.C. submitted a federal lawsuit Tuesday tough billions of dollars in financing cuts made by the Trump administration that would money whatever from criminal activity prevention to food security to clinical research.

The claim submitted in Boston is asking a judge to limit the Trump administration from counting on an in the federal policy to cut grants that don ´ t align with its priorities. Since January, the lawsuit argues that the administration has actually used that stipulation to cancel whole programs and countless grants that had actually been formerly awarded to states and beneficiaries.
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"Defendants ´ choice to conjure up the Clause to end grants based on changed agency concerns is unlawful several times over," the complainants argued. "The rulemaking history of the Clause makes plain that the (Office of Management and Budget) planned for the Clause to allow terminations in only minimal circumstances and provides no support for a broad power to terminate grants on a whim based upon newly determined agency top priorities."

The suit argues the Trump administration has actually utilized the stipulation for the basis of a "slash-and-burn project" to cut federal grants.

"Defendants have terminated countless grant awards made to Plaintiffs, pulling the rug out from under the States, and taking away important federal funding on which States and their locals rely for necessary programs," the lawsuit included.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget did not instantly react to a demand made Tuesday afternoon for remark.

Rhode Island Attorney general of the United States Neronha said this lawsuit was just one of numerous the coalition of mostly Democratic states have filed over funding cuts. For the most part, they have actually mostly succeeded in a string of legal victories to temporarily stop cuts.

This one, however, might be the broadest difficulty to those moneying cuts.

"It ´ s no secret that this President has actually gone to great lengths to obstruct federal funding to the states, however what may be lower known is how the Trump Administration is attempting to justify their illegal actions," Neronha said in a statement. "Nearly every claim this coalition of Democratic chief law officers has submitted against the Administration is associated with its unlawful and flagrant attempts to rob Americans of basic programs and services upon which they rely. Frequently, this is available in the form of illegal federal financing cuts, which the Administration tries to justify by means of a so-called 'company top priorities stipulation."

Connecticut Attorney General Of The United States William Tong stated the lawsuit aimed to stop funding cuts he referred to as indiscriminate and illegal.

"There is no 'because I don ´ t like you ´ or 'because I don ´ t feel like it any longer ´ defunding clause in federal law that permits the President to bypass Congress on an impulse," Tong stated in a declaration. "Since his first minutes in office, Trump has unilaterally defunded our police, our schools, our healthcare, and more. He can ´ t do that, and that ´ s why over and over again we have obstructed him in court and recovered our funding."

In Massachusetts, Attorney General Of The United States Andrea Campbell said the U.S. Department of Agriculture ended a $11 million agreement with the state Department of Agricultural Resources connecting hundreds of farmers to numerous food circulation websites while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended a $1 million grant to the state Department of Public Health to lower asthma activates in low-income communities.

"We can not stand idly by while this President continues to release extraordinary, illegal attacks on Massachusetts ´ citizens, institutions, and economy," Campbell stated in a statement.
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The claim argues that the OMB promulgated the use of the stipulation in concern to validate the cuts. The provision in question, according to the lawsuit, describes 5 words that state federal representatives can terminate grants if the award "no longer effectuates the program goals or firm concerns."

"The Trump Administration has actually claimed that 5 words in this Clause-'no longer effectuates ... agency top priorities'-supply federal firms with practically unconfined authority to keep federal financing whenever they no longer wish to support the programs for which Congress has actually appropriated funding," the suit said.