California libraries spared, for now, from Trump cuts
In a nationwide injunction Tuesday, Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island said Trump had no legal authority to eliminate congressionally approved funding for the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
Trump's Justice Department argued that the president is entitled to fund programs according to his 'priorities.' But McConnell said the cutbacks 'usurped Congress' lawmaking and spending authority' that are protected in the Constitution.
Over the past few months, the judge wrote, the defunding 'has disrupted numerous critical state library and museum services and programs, impeded the resolution of time-sensitive labor disputes involving State entities, and curtailed broad-ranging training, consultation, and technical assistance services and programs and facilitate the growth of minority business enterprises.'
None of the agencies has offered 'any reasonable explanation' for its actions, McConnell said.
The judge cited California State Librarian Greg Lucas's statement that the loss of federal funds would 'stop statewide and local public library programs immediately' and would reduce or halt programs serving seniors, veterans, English learners, and the blind and visually impaired.
Lucas, in a sworn declaration to the court, said the Trump administration notified the State Library on April 2 that its $15.7 million federal grant for the next fiscal year had been terminated.
'Any pause in our federal funding … effectively ends programs that local librarians and the 23 million Californians with library cards rely on,' Lucas said.
'Without federal funding, no coordinated upskilling or continuing education exists for the approximately 17,000 employees of California who staff the State's 1,127 libraries.' Also at stake, Lucas said, were services for 'lower-income families, seniors and veterans who rely on libraries to help them navigate an increasingly digital world,' and 'Braille and other free services to the 800,000 Californians who are blind, visually impaired or dyslexic.'
He told the Chronicle that on Tuesday, before the judge's order, federal officials had notified California and other states that, contrary to the previous cancellation of funds, they would receive half of the U.S. funding they had been promised for the upcoming fiscal year. That would be an improvement, Lucas said, but the state would still have "no money for all the local assistance we used to do."
Nationally, McConnell said in his ruling, the library agency has reduced its staff from 77 to 12, according to its most recent report. He quoted an unidentified employee as saying the agency is not awarding new funds to states and plans to cut off most of its existing grants.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who filed the suit along with other states, welcomed the ruling and said the Trump administration 'is attempting to dismantle critical federal agencies without any consideration for the Americans that rely on the programs and services these agencies provide.'
In response to the ruling, Justice Department spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said the department "has vigorously defended President Trump's executive actions, including the order to Reduce the Federal Bureaucracy, and will continue to do so.' The administration could ask a federal appeals court to lift McConnell's injunction and could later appeal to the Supreme Court, which last month allowed Trump's Department of Education to cut off more than 100 grants of funding for teacher training, aimed at programs that promoted inclusion of minorities and women.
The Minority Business Development Agency, part of the Commerce Department, seeks to aid and promote businesses owned by racial and ethnic minorities and was established under a law signed by President Richard Nixon in 1969. McConnell said its 'workforce has been reduced to zero.'
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is a small, independent agency, established in 1947, that provides mediation in labor disputes and says on its website that its goal is 'fostering collaborative labor-management relationships' through training and other assistance. McConnell said the agency announced April 18 that its services were no longer available.
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