Judge Who Blocked Trump's Funding Freeze Is Concerned He Isn't Following The Order

The federal judge noted that organizations had informed the court as recently as last night that they still could not reach their funds.

A federal judge said Monday that she will not make any changes to the temporary block on the Trump administration’s bid to freeze federal grants and loans, a maneuver that has impacted funding for everything from special education needs to veterans’ care to Meals on Wheels and more.

The temporary block on the funding freeze expires Monday at 5 p.m. If the order expires, the freeze would go back into effect.

After a roughly two-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan told Justice Department prosecutors and attorneys for the National Council of Nonprofits that she would not issue her decision to extend the temporary restraining order on the freeze until the parties had formally entered additional records onto the docket.

“I appreciate the expedited briefing,” AliKhan said after acknowledging to prosecutors that the whirlwind of activity that has hit her court since last week seemed to be a problem of the Trump administration’s “own making” since they “paused all federal funding as opposed to going through it [line by line].”

On Jan. 27, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo requiring federal agencies to identify whether the programs that received government dollars were aligned with the new administration’s policies and executive orders — specifically, those that sought to limit assistance for foreign aid, diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts, and “woke gender ideology.”