As the Trump administration continues to make deep cuts to federal spending and put political conditions on the funds it does disburse to state and local governments, Eric Adams continues to put his faith in lawsuits brought by City Hall against the federal government. Speaking with reporters in City Hall on Tuesday, he dismissed suggestions from mayoral candidates that the city withhold funds from the federal government in a reciprocal fashion, calling them “make-believe plans.”
Adams first said that the proposed measure falls short of addressing the problem it’s aimed at. “Even if you wanted to withhold the 80 million from FEMA, it was clawed back,” the mayor said. “The banks responded to the call from the federal government.” City Hall’s Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant sued the Trump administration over the move in February, saying at the time that it was done “without any notification or administrative process, and in violation of federal regulations and grant terms.” Last week, Goode-Trufant brought the city into another lawsuit with a coalition of other municipalities over new conditions imposed by the Trump administration on previously awarded funds for supportive housing, which in the Big Apple’s case comes to another $53.5 million.
Trump’s unilateral withholding of federal funds and imposing of new conditions appears at odds with legal precedent. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 places strict limits on how a president can withhold congressionally-approved funds from states and local governments–a process which demands that the executive provide a “special message,” which Trump did on three occasions during his first term, but not since.
Given the lack of observance to this and other procedures, Democratic primary candidates Michael Blake and Jessica Ramos have proposed that New York take more aggressive tactics to match the escalation from the White House. Candidate Jessica Ramos has proposed the RECOURSE Act in the State Senate, which would withhold funds from the federal government in equal amount what has been denied New York State. Michael Blake has also expressed support for the idea, stating at various turns that politicians need to be ready to “check a bullet” when it comes to dealing with the heavy-handed tactics coming from the White House.
The incumbent mayor dismissed the idea as fanciful, and seized the opportunity to take his competition down a peg. “When you’re running for office and you don’t have a real understanding of city government you make a lot of make-believe plans. Now I understand why they’re so far down in this whole process,” the mayor said, referring to their low polling in the race so far.
Despite the mayor’s confidence in using the legal system, it remains to be seen whether a favorable result in court would bring in the denied resources as intended, given that the Trump administration has blatantly defied rulings from federal judges and even the Supreme Court. The situation has led some to argue that the country is in a full-blown constitutional crisis. Asked by La Voce whether he was confident that the president would respect a judge’s finding in the city’s favor, the mayor sidestepped, deferring to the power of the judiciary: “I have a lot of trust in our judicial system. Our judicial system has built in mechanisms to ensure that all of us follow the law.”
