California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general and two governors in submitting a comment letter opposing the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposed rewrite of rules governing nearly every federal grant. The proposed rule — entitled the "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance" — would wrest the power of the purse away from Congress, provide new tools for the Trump Administration to leverage federal funds to impose a radical political agenda on states based on differences in policy, and put political appointees in charge of grantmaking. 

“The Trump Administration is once again attempting to weaponize essential federal funding to advance its policy priorities. Except this time, it’s not just one agency, it’s almost all of them. This proposal aims to undermine practically every industry and public service supported by federal funding by providing OMB with sweeping authority to condition or terminate grants for programs, initiatives, and research that the Trump Administration does not like. However, it is Congress, not the President, that gets to wield the power of the purse — as we’ve shown, successfully, time after time in court. This rule clearly exceeds OMB’s authority, and we urge OMB to withdraw it.” – AG Bonta