Trump administration

What Trump pausing federal grants and loans would mean for you

A funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars, though a federal judge temporarily blocked that push late Tuesday.

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The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending. Tracie Strahan reports.

The White House was looking to pause federal grants and loans as President Donald Trump's administration began an across-the-board ideological review of its spending, but a federal judge temporarily blocked that push late Tuesday.

Here's the latest:

Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a push from President Trump to pause federal funding. The order from U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan came minutes before the funding freeze was scheduled to go into effect. It lasts until Monday afternoon and applies only to existing programs.

AliKhan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said in halting the freeze, “It seems like the federal government currently doesn’t actually know the full extent of the programs that are going to be subject to the pause."

Jessica Morton, an attorney for the National Council of Nonprofits, which brought the suit, said the group has tens of thousands of members around the country that could be affected.

“Our client members have reported being extremely concerned about having to shutter if there’s even a brief pause,” Morton said.

Justice Department attorney Daniel Schwei said the plaintiffs hadn’t identified anyone specifically who would lose funding right away if the pause does go into effect.

New York AG says funding freeze already having an effect on vital programs

At a news conference announcing a lawsuit aimed at blocking the pause, Attorney General Letitia James said Head Start funding was frozen in Michigan, access to child development block grants was cut off in Maryland and at least 20 states have been unable to access Medicaid reimbursement systems, including New York.

“There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional,” said James, who was joined on the call by five other Democratic state attorneys general.

James said the lawsuit, being filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, will seek a temporary restraining order to restart the flow of federal funding.

Leavitt says a White House freeze on federal aid wouldn’t affect people directly receiving aid

During her White House press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was much less clear about what will happen to those who get indirect aid — through their states, other organizations or many other ways.

And while Leavitt said beneficiaries of programs like Social Security and Medicare would not be affected, she did not say Medicaid wouldn’t be affected.

Pressed on Medicaid payments being cut off to individuals, Leavitt said “I’ll check back on that.”

The White House subsequently said Medicaid wouldn’t be affected.

Meals on Wheels says the confusion over the federal aid pause puts its programs at risk

“The lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos for local Meals on Wheels providers not knowing whether they’re going to be reimbursed for meals served today, tomorrow, who knows how long this could go on,” spokeswoman Jenny Young wrote in an email. “Which unfortunately means seniors may panic not knowing where their next meals will come from.”

The main funding for Meals on Wheels, which feeds more than 2 million seniors annually, and other senior nutrition programs is a grant distributed by the federal Administration on Aging to state governments that then send the money to individual providers.

“We need clarity now,” Young added.

State health departments are scrambling to understand effects of the Trump administration’s grant-funding memo

Spokespeople for South Carolina, Maine and Washington’s agencies said they’re still trying to determine how the federal document will affect them, including their funding.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement that she was “deeply concerned” by the directive, which she added is “causing entirely needless chaos and confusion across Maine and the nation that will turn into real and serious harm if it continues.”

Senate Republicans are mostly offering little resistance to Trump’s pause on federal grants and loans

But they acknowledged it was a test of his power over Congressionally-approved programs and could affect their states.

Many GOP senators emphasized that the freeze was so far temporary and that they were trying to find out more about how far it would reach. Others said it was the right move.

“It makes sense to me,” said Sen. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana.

Still, some cautioned that backlash could grow if the freeze is prolonged or if it affects programs like disaster aid.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican whose state of North Carolina is recovering from tropical storms, said, “I can’t imagine that the president would knowingly cut off housing assistance for people displaced from their homes so we’ve just got to sort through it and see how they ultimately implement it.”

Will billions for Medicaid be halted?

Medicaid is notably not exempt from a White House directive to pause all federal grants and loans. Medicare and Social Security, however, were spared in the memo.

The U.S. Health and Human Services agency doles out over a half trillion dollars to states in a joint partnership to run Medicaid, the nation’s health care coverage for about 80 million of the poorest of Americans, including millions of children.

A spokesman for Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said the state’s agencies have reported issues accessing the website used to request disbursement for Medicaid payments.

HHS did not immediately respond to questions about the spending freeze and whether Medicaid payments would continue.

The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending. Tracie Strahan reports.

NY Attorney General Letitia James plans to file a lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s funding freeze

James, a Democrat, will ask a Manhattan federal court to issue a temporary retraining order halting the Republican administration’s action, which is set to halt federal grants and funding streams.

“My office will be taking imminent legal action against this administration’s unconstitutional pause on federal funding,” James said in a social media post. “We won’t sit idly by while this administration harms our families.”

On Monday, she knocked the freeze as “reckless and dangerous” and a threat to families that rely on those funds.

James has been a fierce critic of Trump and his policies. She sued his first administration dozens of times, challenging policies on the environment, immigration, education, health care and other issues. She also fought Trump on his plans to include a question about immigration status on the Census, winning in the U.S. Supreme Court.

She also sued him over his practices as a businessman, winning a civil fraud judgment against him, his company and top executives last year that has soared to more than $500 million with interest. Trump is appealing.

Senators call Trump’s funding freeze an attack on communities and the power of Congress

Democratic Senators are describing panicked calls coming overnight from communities back home afraid of what will happen to programs for children, seniors, public works and disease research as the Trump administration pauses federal funding for review.

“This is no way to govern,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said at a news conference at the Capitol.

Congress has the power of the purse, but the administration’s action was seen as a direct challenge to that authority, all but courting legal action with drawn out lawsuits.

“This is a profound constitutional issue,” said Sen. Angus King, the independent from Maine.

“What happened last night is the most direct assault on the authority of Congress, I believe, in the history of the United States,” King said.

Longtime budget watchers warn Trump’s funding freeze is threatening programs Americans depend on

“This new OMB memo is certain to cause chaos and could result in serious harm to a broad swath of people and communities around the country,” wrote Sharon Parrott, a former White House budget official who’s now president of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

She said the Trump administration “seems determined to subvert Congress, its hand-waving about following the law notwithstanding.”

Education Department says the pause won’t apply to grants received directly by individuals

That includes the more than 40 million Americans with federal student loans and 7 million with federal Pell Grants for low-income students.

This means students who rely on federal financial aid to pay for tuition and other costs are not expected to see any disruption from the pause. Department officials said they’re still reviewing the effect of the memo.

The White House memo on federal aid came as a shock to some

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Marcia Howard, executive director of Federal Funds Information for States, a nonprofit that analyzes the effect of federal actions on states. “It is unprecedented.”

Although the federal government has rescinded unspent funds in the past, it hasn’t normally halted grants on the front-end, she said. The grant pause is perhaps most similar to a federal government shutdown, when a congressional impasse on spending legislation delays federal payments for some state and local services.

“What we generally have observed with states under those circumstances is that a couple of weeks isn’t hugely disruptive,” Howard said.

States on average receive about 30% of their revenues from the federal government, according to Federal Funds Information for States. The largest grant program is Medicaid, which provides health care for lower-income children and adults. But it’s unclear whether the Trump administration’s pause will interrupt the flow of Medicaid reimbursement funds to states.

Trump harnessing his power to advance his conservative goals

Washington is a hub of spending that flows to various departments, local governments, nonprofits and contractors, and the memo has left countless people who are dependent on that money wondering how they’ll be affected.

Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he’s reaching deep into the bureaucracy.

“They are pushing the president’s agenda from the bottom up,” said Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University.

He also said there are risks in Trump’s approach, especially with so many voters reliant on Washington.

“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle. You’ve got to deliver.”

Immigrant and refugee advocates were cut off even before the planned funding pause

Last week, the Justice Department halted contracts to provide legal information to people facing deportation in immigration court. Government-funded nonprofit groups were told in an email “to stop work immediately” on helping people navigate the system’s complex laws and procedures.

“We often hear that people don’t know what’s happening. Why are they detained? What’s going to happen next? And we are being stopped from even giving that basic level of orientation,” said Michael Lukens, executive director of Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.

The State Department told groups that give temporary housing and job training to resettled refugees to stop work immediately on government-funded efforts. Global Refuge said it affected 5,870 refugees under its watch.

“Recently arrived refugees who fled unimaginable danger and lawfully came to the U.S. rely on the initial assistance of Global Refuge to help them navigate life in America,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the group’s president, wrote in a fund-raising pitch Monday.

State official awaiting guidance on effect of memo pausing federal loans and grants

In Kansas, state Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed said he learned of the Trump administration’s move Monday night and that the agency is still reviewing it and awaiting more guidance from federal officials.

Federal funds are a key source of money for highway and bridge projects, and the department expects to receive $664 million in federal funds during the 12 months beginning July 1, almost 40% of its annual budget of nearly $1.7 billion.

“We think it’s a low risk for our typical everyday highway projects,” he said Tuesday, before briefing a legislative committee on his department’s operations. “The target seems to be some of the initiatives that the Trump administration has said publicly that they want to change, things like DEI, electric vehicle infrastructure.”

Democrats and independent organizations criticize the administration for federal grant pause

They described the administration’s actions as capricious and illegal because Congress had already authorized the funding.

“Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law,” New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said in a statement. “It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities.”

Medicare and Social Security benefits won't be affected by the pause in federal grants and loans

That’s according to the memo on the pause from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

But there was no initial explanation of whether the pause would affect disaster assistance and other programs. The memo said it should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”

The White House said later Tuesday student loans and Medicaid would be in the clear, too.

Trump is pausing federal loans and grants as his administration reviews spending

The decision by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent were supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

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