Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/AP) - A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives.
The Trump administration plan plunged the U.S. government into panic and confusion and set the stage for a constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money.
The order from U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan came minutes before the funding freeze was scheduled to go into effect. The administrative stay lasts until Monday afternoon and applies only to existing programs.
AliKhan, who was appointed by former 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."
Administration officials said the decision to halt loans and grants - a financial lifeline for local governments, schools and nonprofit organizations around the country - was necessary to ensure that spending complies with Trump’s recent blitz of executive orders. The Republican president wants to increase fossil fuel production, remove protections for transgender people and end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
But a vaguely worded memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.
Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans would not be affected, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans and food stamps. They also defended the funding pause, saying Trump was following through on his promise to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term.
The pause on grants and loans was scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m., just one day after agencies were informed of the decision.
Congressman Nick Langworthy (R, NY-23) says officials were still reviewing the memo as of Tuesday, trying to figure out what the impact of this pause might have been.
"I think the President was pretty forthright when he said that we're going to examine all elements of the federal government. The Biden administration tried to shovel money out the door in the last month of the term at a frenetic pace that had not been seen in generations," explained Langworthy during a visit to Buffalo on Tuesday. "I assume some guidelines will be unpacked as the day and the week go on, but these federal grants don't come fast, and they usually come in one chunk. So if money has been delivered, it's not like they're scooping it out of bank accounts. But additional payments are on hold for right now."
Langworthy believes President Trump was set to work hand-in-hand with the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) program to thoroughly examine what's going out the door in Washington, and making sure monies, as they're distributed, follow the executive orders of the president.
"There are questions about that, and this is something that can't obviously go on indefinitely, but another quick set of eyes on things doesn't hurt," Langworthy said.
If this pause had went into effect, Langworthy didn't believe it was anything that would have been a long-term issue.
"The way these federal grants systems work, it's not instantaneous, and it's not daily. It's periodic payments, if not one-time payments to these different programs," he explained. "Obviously, there's important research projects going on, we want to see these things move along, and we'll certainly be advocates for organizations within Western New York and our district on those important funding sources. But right now, I think he's just paused additional monies going out the door, and there will be agency and departmental review of those monies and how they've been allocated or expended."
Langworthy does feel it is important to put these reviews in place to see that everything is in line with the priorities of the current administration.
New York Attorney General Letitia James planned to ask a Manhattan federal court to block the funding pause.
"The president does not get to decide which laws to enforce and for whom. When Congress dedicates funding for program, the president cannot pull that funding on a whim," said James on Tuesday during a Zoom call with fellow State Attorney Generals.
"I am leading and joining with my colleagues, my fellow Democratic attorney generals, and suing this administration to stop this illegal freeze of essential funds for our state. We will not stand for any illegal policy that puts essential services for millions of Americans at risk."
James feels that not only does the Trump administration's policy put people at risk, but it is plainly unconstitutional.
"This president has exceeded his authority. He has violated the Constitution, and he has trampled on the co-equal branch of government. It's really critically important that we stand up and defend the rights and liberties of all Americans," James said.
What kind of a ripple effect could this policy from the White House have on local organizations, if it does go into effect?
Catherine Shick from FeedMore WNY says the temporary pause on all disbursements of federal loans and grant programs would have a wide-ranging impact on their ability to provide nutritious food and vital resources to the tens of thousands of Western New Yorkers who rely on their services.
"We're not fully aware, at this point in time, the extent of which it could impact our services at FeedMore WNY. We are working very closely with our federal lawmakers to understand the full impact of this temporary pause, and how it would impact FeedMore WNY and, of course, our food insecure community members," said Shick in an interview with WBEN.
According to Shick, FeedMore WNY relies greatly on federal funding.
"Annually, we rely on about $18 million in federal funding to provide nutritious food and vital services to our community members of all ages and backgrounds, who struggle with food insecurity," she explained. "Some of these programs include our USDA program, the USDA food that we're able to provide to those in need. We distribute about 4 million pounds of USDA food to our network of hunger relief partners on an annual basis. Of course, our other programs that rely on federal funding include our Meals on Wheels services, that includes home delivered and community dining programs that offer prepared meals. So again, we are still working very closely with our federal lawmakers to determine if and what will be impacted."
Shick is concerned that any disruption to federal funding would greatly impact the people and communities they serve, especially with deliveries of food they use from the USDA.
"We do rely on about 30% of the food we distribute through our food bank distribution network is USDA products. That is just one example of the ways we do rely on federal support to continue our vital programs and services that fight hunger," Shick noted.
Trina Burruss, president and CEO of the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, also shares in the concerns about the proposed changes, and the speed with which they are coming.
"We focus on systems at United Way, and what we know about systems is that they are very complex," said Burruss with WBEN. "When these things are coming out like this so fast and furiously, I want your listeners to think about the game of Jenga: You pull one peg out, and perhaps the peg does need some sort of adjustment to make something work more better or different. But when that peg comes out, all these other pegs fall too. They may be pegs you did not intend, they have consequences that you don't foresee, and it just causes problems that folks in the community, nonprofit specifically, have to try to figure out how to respond to. It's not easy on the best day, but when it's coming out like this, it makes it that much harder."
There's several programs that United Way runs or facilitates that rely on federal funding, including the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program, as well as their Emergency Food and Shelter program.
"The nonprofits that are working in communities, whether or not it's ours or someplace else in the country, we are dealing with the very layered issues that cause a community to have stress, and for folks to not be able to thrive," Burruss explained. "In any one agency, you may have multiple different programs that are being run to address multiple issues, because, again, systems are multi-layered. If a family is struggling with housing, they're automatically going to struggle educating their children. And if they're struggling educating their children, then their children are going to have a hard time being self-sufficient adults themselves. There's very few organizations out here that are working on just one thing. They have to touch multiple things, because that's how issues work."
Burruss says the finance team at United Way was very busy Tuesday trying to understand the deadline, the complexities of the policy, and trying to get invoices and other matters submitted before it ended up being blocked.
"Things are happening so quickly that we are trying desperately to wrap our arms around it so that we would be in the best position possible to advocate on behalf of ourselves and other nonprofits, to be able to provide that nonprofit support, which is so critical to our mission," she said. "We are really trying to understand, and hope to become more of a resource for information advocacy and the things that we understand to be true. But right now, United Way, like every other organization, we're really drinking from a fire hose, and that's unfortunate."
While some are not concerned about the length of time these federal funds and grants are put on hold, even if it's just a day or two days, Burruss says it's putting more stress on folks its are trying to figure out what to do, and trying to understand the implications.
"They have a disruption in their service delivery that's not monetary," she noted. "We're focused on other things to try to make sure that we can move forward. There's backlog to consider, if you're an organization that runs a suicide prevention hotline, that has government funding in it. One day, one hour could be critical. So whether or not it lasts, again, until midnight tonight or for some period of time longer than that, it means just total disruption and a lack of focus.
"We are nonprofit organizations that are committed to individuals who need us in our communities in which we serve. So anything that distracts us from that, it's harmful, no matter how long it lasts. But at United Way, we continue to monitor things very closely. Our team, we've been on the phone with one another, practically, daily, trying to understand what we've seen the day before, try to assess what may come, what signals we're hearing and things."