Two federal judges have blocked the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut all federal grant and loan programs.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan paused the cuts last Tuesday for a week to allow for full arguments on it. U.S District Judge John J. McConnell followed suit on Friday, siding with a coalition of 22 states.
“The Executive cites no legal authority allowing it to do so; indeed, no federal law would authorize the Executive’s unilateral action here,” McConnell said in his ruling.
Last Tuesday, January 27, President Donald Trump ordered a cut to all federal grants and loans. This meant that funding to impactful and effective programs that thousands of Americans depend on would be stopped.
Trump’s actions pointed directly to his Project 2025 playbook, which he claimed he would not follow. These federal cuts take money out of the hands of the most vulnerable people in the country and put it back into the pockets of the wealthy through tax cuts.
A memo released from Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, highlighted the Trump Administration’s reasoning for this decision. “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,” Vaeth writes.
This freeze buys right-wing lawmakers time to determine if these grants and loans align with Republican ideals. Trump’s order comes two days after he halted all U.S foreign aid and paused all renewable energy projects.
However, this freeze will crucially disparage trillions of dollars invested in healthcare research, education, housing assistance, disaster relief, transportation and other economic initiatives.
For example, the Fostering Access, Rights and Equity (FARE) grant program began in 2021 to help women workers learn about and access their employment rights and benefits. In 2024, they awarded around $1.4 million to women across four organizations who have been impacted by gender based workplace violence.
The Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant helps to expand pathways for women to enter and lead in all industries. In 2024, they awarded around $6 million to nine community based organizations to increase women’s participation in apprenticeship roles and non-traditional occupations.
These grants are just two of many that have cycled back into economic growth, but are threatened by Trump’s freeze.
This pause will not affect Social Security or Medicare, but has the potential to halt payments to states and households that receive benefits like Medicaid, SNAP food stamps, and other programs. The memo says it will exercise “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”
Democrats at the Capitol are outraged, calling this move “unlawful.” They’ve cited this freeze as a violation of the Impound Control Act (ICA) which limits a president’s right to exercise funding power that has already been approved by Congress.
In a brazen & illegal move, the Trump administration is working to freeze federal funding passed into law.
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) January 28, 2025
The law is the law—Trump must immediately reverse course, follow the requirements of the law, & ensure the nation’s spending laws are implemented as Congress intended. https://t.co/zKJeWi29nu
Judge AliKhan expressed on Monday, February 3, that she is inclined to extend the temporary block of the funding freeze.