WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump has ordered a ‘temporary pause’ on on federal grants and loans, pending review, a Constitutional budget power grab of Congressional spending authority, Democrat leaders said, drawing challenges from 22 states, Congress, and a U.S. Court Judge’s temporary halt.
The freeze was halted until Monday by U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan, the Associated Press reported Tuesday night, in response to a legal challenge from nonprofit groups. The judge’s halt came minutes before the freeze was to take effect. Not long after, RI Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced he’s co-leading a coalition of 23 attorneys general suing to stop the implementation of the policy, filed in United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
RI AG, Congressmen, oppose Trump budget power grab
Trump’s executive order would withhold trillions in funding that every state in the country relies on to provide essential services to millions of Americans, Neronha said, immediately jeopardizing state programs that provide critical health and childcare services to families in need, deliver support to public schools, combat hate crimes and violence against women and provide life-saving disaster relief to states.
“Any pause to federal funding programs would have immediate and catastrophic effects for Rhode Islanders and Americans everywhere,” said Neronha. “Such a pause, which OMB announced last night without a definitive end, would result in financial chaos for everyday programs on which people rely to survive, including programs related to health care and food for children. States everywhere receive billions in federal grants that support public safety, education, transportation, the environment, and more. If this funding pause is allowed, its devastating impact will be widespread and dangerous, as these programs touch many Americans in one way or another, whether they realize it or not. Illegal attempts by the Executive Branch to abruptly sever access to crucial funding sources with less than a day’s notice is reckless and will be met with immediate action to stop such measures.”
“Donald Trump has thrown the country into chaos by announcing his intention to illegally block funding from programs that people rely on for health care, food, public safety, education, and other essential needs,” said Congressman Seth Magaziner (RI-02).
Guidance on the order from the White House itself is unclear, he noted.
“I have been hearing from service providers, small businesses, and everyday Rhode Islanders who are worried about the impact that this order will have. The guidance being circulated by the administration is vague and contradictory, and the order itself is almost certainly unconstitutional,” Magaziner said.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed also opposed and vowed to fight the budget power grab.“President Trump’s disruptive blanket suspension of these federal funds threatens real harm to Americans everywhere. Trump’s directive is already sewing confusion and chaos with respect to health care, education, housing, disaster aid, and more. Legal action by organizations and several states, including Rhode Island, is being initiated. But there is a much quicker, less costly solution here: President Trump should immediately rescind this reckless and unconstitutional directive. He needs to do it fast because every day this drags on the impacts grow worse. He should stop wasting taxpayers’ money and putting people, communities, and essential services at risk.
“I will continue working to halt this irresponsible freeze and ensure federal resources are administered in accordance with the law.”
Despite assurances that the order will not affect individuals relying on services such as Medicare, the program’s portals in all 50 states aren’t working, according to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, top finance committee Democrat.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed,” Wyden wrote on his X account Tuesday.
Magaziner confirmed Rhode Island’s portal, was well as others was down Tuesday, although with assurance they’d be restored.
“It is our understanding that the Medicaid portals have been down today, but the Trump Administration is changing course and stating the portals will re-open,” Magaziner said Tuesday.
Appropriations members: Deliver Congressionally approved funds, reject budget power grab
Rosa L. DeLauro, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives and Patty Murray, Vice Chair, Committee on Appropriations United States Senate, wrote to Acting Director Matthew J. Vaeth Office of Management and Budget, urging him to uphold his duty, the law and Constitution to deliver Congressionally approved federal funding.
“As leaders of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, we write with extreme alarm about the Administration’s efforts to undermine Congress’s power of the purse, threaten our national security, and deny resources for states, localities, American families, and businesses, DeLauro and Murray wrote.
The memo reads, “To implement these orders, each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders . In the interim , to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,”
“The President has issued a number of Executive Orders to unilaterally freeze or contravene critical funding provided in bipartisan laws, sowing chaos across states, families, and communities. In that vein, you have now issued a series of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memoranda that only further disarray and inefficiency—in particular, M-25-13, pursuant to which agencies will be ordered to stop vast swaths of federal financial assistance to states, families, and communities as of 5:00 PM ET on Tuesday, January 28, DeLauro and Murray wrote.
The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country. We write today to urge you in the strongest possible terms to uphold the law and the Constitution and ensure all federal resources are delivered in accordance with the law,” the appropriation committee members wrote.
Author: Rob Borkowski
Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at editor@warwickpost.com with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.
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