The state of Pennsylvania still couldn’t access more than $1 billion in funds as of this week — including infrastructure funds to address abandoned mine lands — according to a lawsuit the state filed against the Trump administration Thursday.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said Thursday that his administration had been working with Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation and the federal agencies to restore funding since the freeze began shortly after Donald Trump took office, but that $1.2 billion in funds still remained unavailable as of Wednesday. The state is claiming that the administration is still not obeying multiple judge orders to turn the federal spigot back on, according to the lawsuit.
Most — if not all — of the money that Pennsylvania alleges it cannot access comes from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure law, including part of the $3 billion awarded to Pennsylvania to repair abandoned mine lands, the $76 million for plugging oil and gas wells and the $126 million for home energy rebates, according to examples cited in the complaint. The state still does not have access to funds from more than a dozen programs between those two bills, according to the complaint.