
Trump freezes funding: NJ predicts cuts to cops, nursing homes, special-needs kids
🔵 Sudden pause on federal grants and loans
🔵 New Jersey officials predict dire consequences
🔵 Legal challenges coming
UPDATE — 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29
Nevermind! Trump rescinds federal funding freeze after a chaotic day.
UPDATE — 5 p.m., Tuesday Jan. 28
A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans that could total trillions of dollars.
U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action Tuesday afternoon, minutes before it was set to go into effect. The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.
The White House had planned to start the pause as they begin an across-the-board ideological review of federal spending.
The plan sparked confusion and panic among organizations that rely on Washington for their financial lifeline.
Administration officials have said federal assistance to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships.
Trump administration freezes funds
The White House is pausing federal grants and loans as President Donald Trump's administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending, causing confusion and panic among organizations that rely on Washington for their financial lifeline.
Administration officials said the decision was necessary to ensure that all funding complies with Trump's executive orders, which are intended to undo progressive steps on transgender rights, environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts.
They also said that federal assistance to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships.
However, the funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars, at least temporarily, and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted. State agencies and early education centers appeared to be struggling to access money from Medicaid and Head Start, stirring anxiety with answers hard to come by in Washington.
New Jersey officials predict dire consequences
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who already is leading a multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration's assault on birthright citizenship, said the state was reviewing the federal funding freeze.
"Trump’s directive to freeze all federal aid is reckless and a blatant violation of the rule of law," Platkin said on X. "This will greatly harm New Jerseyans and raise costs for working families."
"If your mother is in a nursing home, the unlawful freeze would send her out onto the street," Platkin said.
"If you care about fighting drug trafficking, this unlawful freeze would hamper the work of task forces that break up drug cartels."
"If you have a child with autism, the unlawful freeze would eliminate care at school."
"If your child under the age of 5 is in Head Start, that education would disappear."
"This unlawful freeze on money to fix roads and bridges puts New Jersey drivers’ safety at risk."
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherill, D-N.J. 11th District, a Democratic candidate for governor, said Trump's order steps on Congressional authority.
“The administration’s announcement is a gut punch to New Jersey taxpayers and will inject chaos into our state’s economy," she said.
"It not only violates the law, but also threatens a wide range of projects already underway — from Gateway Tunnel construction and flood remediation, to law enforcement hiring and NJ TRANSIT repairs. The state and municipalities across New Jersey have already made investments that rely on federal partnership only to be stiffed by the president on a whim. This is completely unacceptable."
More litigation against Trump administration
Court battles are imminent, and Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James plans to ask a Manhattan federal court to block the Republican president's moves.
“My office will be taking imminent legal action against this administration’s unconstitutional pause on federal funding,” she said on social media.
The issue dominated the first briefing held by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She said the administration was trying to be “good stewards” of public money by making sure that there was "no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness.”
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.
“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,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Democrats and independent organizations described the pause as capricious and illegal because Congress had already authorized the money.
“The scope of this illegal action is unprecedented and could have devastating consequences across the country," said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. "For real people, we could see a screeching halt to resources for child care, cancer research, housing, police officers, opioid addiction treatment, rebuilding roads and bridges, and even disaster relief efforts.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, called it “more lawlessness and chaos in America.”
Why is the funding freeze happening?
It's unclear from the White house memo how sweeping the pause will be. Vaeth said all spending must comply with Trump's executive orders,
Vaeth wrote that “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." He also wrote that the pause should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”
The Environmental Protection Agency, which distributes billions of dollars, confirmed that it would implement the pause to “align federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through President Trump’s priorities.”
Washington is a hub of spending that flows to various departments, local governments, nonprofits and contractors, and the memo has left countless people who are dependent on that money wondering how they will be affected.
The pause is the latest example of how Trump is harnessing his power over the federal system to advance his conservative goals. Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he's reaching deep into the bureaucracy.
“They are pushing the president’s agenda from the bottom up," said Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University.
He also said there are risks in Trump's approach, especially with so many voters reliant on Washington.
“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle," Light said. "You’ve got to deliver.”
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Gallery Credit: Rick Rickman
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