US judge temporarily blocks Trump's funds freezing

A federal judge temporarily blocked on Tuesday an initiative of President Donald Trump to suspend federal financing.

A judge temporarily blocked on Tuesday part of the wide order of President Donald Trump to pause federal subsidies, loans and other financial aid, giving a victory to the defense groups that they said that would interrupt the programs that serve dozens of millions of Americans.

District Judge Loren Alikhan ordered the Trump administration not to block the financing of the current programs until February 3 at a hearing in a Washington court.

Groups representing non -profit organizations, public health officials and small businesses filed the demand, saying that Trump's policy would be devastating.

The broad directive of Trump was the last step in his drastic effort to review the federal government, which has already seen the new president to stop foreign aid, freeze hiring and close diversity programs in dozens of agencies.

The Democrats described the freezing of illegal assault funds to the authority of the Congress on federal spending and said they were interrupting payments to preschool doctors and teachers. The Republicans largely defended the order as a compliance with Trump's campaign promise to stop an inflated budget.

The Trump administration said programs that offer critical benefits to Americans would not be affected. But Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said that his office had confirmed that doctors in the 50 states could not obtain payments from Medicaid, which provides medical coverage to 70 million low -income Americans.

The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in X that the federal government was aware of the interruption of the Medicaid portal and that no payment had been affected. The website will be online again, he said.

Health sector officials said the interruption could cause lasting damage. “If the Federal Government stops sending funds to the state contractors of Medicaid, the result would be a total debacle, with Medicaid suppliers closing the business,” said Sara Ratner, of the Nomi Health health company.

The order, set out in a memorandum of the White House Budget Office, intended to freeze federal subsidies and loans from the 2200 GMT on Tuesday while the administration made sure that they are aligned with the priorities of the Republican President, including decrees which signed to end the efforts of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Great scope programs

Federal subsidies and loans reach virtually every corner of the lives of Americans, with billions of dollars for education, health and fight against poverty, housing aids, help in catastrophes, infrastructure and endless initiatives

According to the memorandum, the freezing of Tuesday included all the money destined “at external aid” already “non -governmental organizations”, among other categories. It ordered 55 agencies to examine more than 2,600 individual subsidy programs.

The White House said that Pause would not affect social security payments or Medicare the elderly or “assistance provided directly to people”, such as some food and social welfare aid programs for the poor.

In a second memorandum published on Tuesday, the White House said that the funds for Medicaid, the farmers, the small businesses, the help to the rent and the Head Start preschool program would continue without interruption. But Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, from Connecticut, said the Head Start refund system had closed in their state, preventing preschool centers from paying staff.

The situation of other programs that could be affected, such as scientific research, road construction and addiction recovery, was not clear.

The freezing followed the suspension of the president's foreign aid, which began to cut on Tuesday the supply of vital medicines to countries around the world that depend on the help to the development of the United States.