Governor of deep red state sues Trump after 'whim' leaves residents reeling

TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly joined 22 other states and Washington, D.C., in suing the Trump administration for terminating federal funding, which she said has led to cuts to state agriculture, health and safety programs “on a whim.”

The federal lawsuit, initially filed in June in Massachusetts, targets decisions from President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency that are rooted in a regulation allowing the administration to eliminate funding if it “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”

Kelly said in a news release that the decisions have made “no sense.”

“I joined this lawsuit on behalf of Kansas to ensure funds going towards critical programs our state depends on are not ripped away by the Trump administration — or any presidential administration — on a whim,” she said.

Kelly joined the lawsuit in an amended complaint filed July 31.

States are suing the Office of Management and Budget and a slate of other federal agencies that have relied on the regulation to eliminate billions in funding.

Those decisions have been devastating, the states said in the lawsuit, depriving states of resources used to equip law enforcement, conduct medical and scientific research, address food insecurity, secure clean drinking water and educate students.

“Federal agencies have done all of this without any advance notice, without any explanation to the state recipients and in direct contravention of the will of Congress,” the lawsuit said. “The state recipients’ sole offense has been that they used the grant funding precisely how they had promised in the grant applications — and as they were instructed by the agencies at the time of the grant award.”

The governor’s office said the Trump administration has used the regulation “to terminate millions of dollars used to purchase goods from Kansas farmers, to mitigate natural disasters and to enhance childhood education.”

The states and D.C. want a judgment from the court that agrees the regulation does not embolden the administration to terminate funding based on priorities created after funding has been awarded. If that isn’t possible, the parties want the court to vacate the administration’s decision to rely on the regulation as the reasoning for terminating billions in federal funding.

The case is one of hundreds against the Trump administration’s actions, according to a public tracker by Just Security.