- Nonprofits, health workers, and small business owners joined in suing the White House on Tuesday.
- NY, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, NJ, and Rhode Island are also suing to stop the freeze.
- A DC judge has been asked to halt the freeze before it takes effect at 5 p.m.
A group of nonprofits, health workers, and small business owners have asked a federal judge in Washington, DC, to immediately halt the Trump administration's freeze on trillions of dollars in federal loans and grants before it takes effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Separately, the attorneys general of six states — New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — say they will also sue to stop the freeze.
"There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional," said New York AG Letitia James.
"From the families who rely upon Head Start for child care, to the children across the country who depend on SNAP for their next meal, to the seniors who rely on state services to get the care that they need, this policy will disrupt the lives of millions of Americans," she said.
The freeze order is "devoid of any legal basis" and would harm hundreds of thousands of grant recipients who depend on federal grants, said the nonprofit-led lawsuit, which was filed hours before the freeze was scheduled to take effect.
The freeze "will have a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of grant recipients who depend on the inflow of grant money (money already obligated and already awarded) to fulfill their missions, pay their employees, pay their rent," said the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed by the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, the Main Street Alliance, and SAGE, and came in response to the White House budget office's new order pausing nearly all federal grants and loans.
The freeze will allow agencies time to review some $3 trillion in federal grants and loans for compliance with new Trump policies.
Program funding was already being halted in some states ahead of the 5 p.m. deadline, James said Tuesday afternoon, at a press conference joined by the other five state AGs.
"Head Start was frozen in Michigan, access to child development block grants were frozen in Maryland," she said. "At least 20 states have been frozen out of their Medicaid reimbursement systems, including New York," she said.
Trump's freeze-order was first revealed by multiple publications late Monday. On Tuesday morning the New York Times and other publications shared the two-page internal memo enacting the freeze.
The memo, from Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Matthew J. Vaeth, orders federal agency heads to freeze payments "to the extent permissible under applicable law."
The agencies must then complete "a comprehensive analysis" to determine whether their federal assistance programs comply with Trump's executive orders, the memo states.
It sets a February 10 deadline for agencies to submit to the United States Office of Management and Budget "detailed information on any programs, projects or activities subject to this pause." OMB will then review and provide guidance on that spending.
The memo states that federal assistance should not be used to fund "wokeness" and "the weaponization of government."
"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," the memo states.
In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, the OMB stressed that the funding is not being permanently stopped.
"This pause could be as short as a day if an agency determines that the funds at issue do not conflict with the Administration's policies," the statement said.
"To act as faithful stewards of taxpayer money, new administrations must review federal programs to ensure that they are being executed in accordance with the law and the new President's policies. If the pause will have an adverse impact, the memo expressly provides that agencies can seek exemptions on a case-by-case basis," it said.
This is a breaking story; please check back for developments.
