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BOSTON (AP) - Chief law officers from more than 20 states and Washington, D.C. submitted a federal claim Tuesday challenging billions of dollars in financing cuts made by the Trump administration that would fund everything from crime prevention to food security to clinical research.

The claim submitted in Boston is asking a judge to limit the Trump administration from depending on an odd stipulation in the federal policy to cut grants that don ´ t line up with its concerns. Since January, the lawsuit argues that the administration has actually used that provision to cancel entire programs and countless grants that had been previously granted to states and grantees.

"Defendants ´ choice to invoke the Clause to terminate grants based on altered firm priorities is illegal numerous times over," the plaintiffs argued. "The rulemaking history of the Clause makes plain that the (Office of Management and Budget) intended for the Clause to permit terminations in just limited circumstances and offers no support for a broad power to terminate grants on an impulse based upon newly determined firm top priorities."

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

"Defendants have actually terminated thousands of grant awards made to Plaintiffs, pulling the rug out from under the States, and eliminating vital federal funding on which States and their homeowners rely for vital programs," the lawsuit added.

The White of Management and Budget did not immediately react to a demand made Tuesday afternoon for comment.

Rhode Island Attorney general of the United States Neronha stated this suit was simply one of several the union of mostly Democratic states have filed over financing cuts. For the most part, they have actually mainly prospered in a string of legal victories to briefly halt cuts.

This one, though, may be the broadest challenge to those moneying cuts.

"It ´ s obvious that this President has actually gone to terrific lengths to intercept federal financing to the states, however what might be lesser known is how the Trump Administration is attempting to validate their illegal actions," Neronha stated in a statement. "Nearly every claim this coalition of Democratic attorney generals of the United States has actually submitted versus the Administration is related to its illegal and flagrant attempts to rob Americans of fundamental 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 via a so-called 'company priorities provision."

Connecticut Chief Law Officer William Tong said the claim aimed to stop funding cuts he explained as indiscriminate and unlawful.

"There is no 'due to the fact that I put on ´ t like you ´ or 'since I wear ´ t feel like it anymore ´ defunding stipulation in federal law that enables the President to bypass Congress on a whim," Tong said in a statement. "Since his first minutes in workplace, Trump has actually unilaterally defunded our cops, our schools, our healthcare, and more. He can ´ t do that, and that ´ s why over and over once again we have actually obstructed him in court and won back our funding."

In Massachusetts, Attorney General Andrea Campbell stated the U.S. Department of Agriculture terminated a $11 million agreement with the state Department of Agricultural Resources connecting numerous farmers to hundreds of food circulation websites while the U.S. Epa terminated a $1 million grant to the state Department of Public Health to decrease asthma triggers in low-income communities.

"We can not stand idly by while this President continues to introduce unprecedented, unlawful attacks on Massachusetts ´ citizens, organizations, and economy," Campbell said in a statement.

The lawsuit argues that the OMB promulgated using the provision in question to validate the cuts. The stipulation in concern, according to the lawsuit, describes five words that say federal representatives can terminate grants if the award "no longer effectuates the program goals or agency top priorities."

"The Trump Administration has actually claimed that 5 words in this Clause-'no longer effectuates ... company concerns'-supply federal agencies with virtually unconfined authority to withhold federal financing whenever they no longer want to support the programs for which Congress has actually appropriated financing," the suit said.
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