A federal judge recently voted to temporarily block President Donald Trump’s order to put a freeze on federal funding, while his administration reviews financial assistance to put an end to progressive programs.
Announced late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan gave the order minutes before the freeze was scheduled to go into effect at 5 p.m. E.T. Said to only affect existing programs, the administrative stay will only reportedly last until 5 p.m. ET Monday unless AliKhan grants a temporary restraining order. The requested restraining order will be heard in a hearing on Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Filed against the Office of Management and Budget, the lawsuit heard today on Zoom came from the National Council of Nonprofits and the American Public Health Association. The coalition attempted to get the federal courts to “maintain the status quo” until the Supreme Court could consider the ‘illegality of OMB’s actions.”
NY Attorney General Letitia James also announced that she will also be taking legal action against the order, calling the freeze “reckless and dangerous.”
“Millions of Americans rely on federally funded programs every day to get the health care they need, support their families, and stay safe in their communities. Already, this policy has unleashed chaos and uncertainty, with law enforcement halting drug enforcement efforts, Medicaid portals shutting down, and other critical services being thrown into disarray,” said James per a statement. “Today, I am leading a coalition of attorneys general to uphold the law and ensure that essential services in states across our country can continue.”
On Jan. 27, the OMB released a vague two-page memo addressed to all federal agencies, letting them know that there will be a pause to “all activities related to Federal financial assistance” that goes against Trump’s agenda.
The White House went on to clarify that programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, student loans and food stamps, that affect direct assistance to Americans will not be impacted. Still, over 2,600 programs are expected to be affected with the OMB already having sent out a document for more details on these programs by Feb. 7.
Nonprofits reportedly affected include school meals for low-income students, nutrition programs for pregnant women, assistance to homeless veterans and the U.S. Agency for International Development foreign assistance.
In the hours after the federal freeze was announced, disarray ensued. Nonprofits said they were not able to use federal government systems to withdraw the assistance they were previously awarded. Websites used by early childhood education providers and health care reported that they were shown a notice that there would be delays in payment, while local housing organizations announced that they are unsure whether they have the funds to help with rent support for Feb. 1.
Medicare payments also seemed to be affected as online portals had no access. The White House released a statement, claiming that an “outage” was the reason for blocking organizations and agencies from withdrawing federal health dollars.
Although spokespeople for HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not yet respond, many politicians spoke out against the portal issues.
“Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal,” said Democrat Sen. Brian Schatz per X. “This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful.”
