Judge blocks Trump's federal funding freeze on social programs
A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's attempt to halt federal funding for many social programmes on Tuesday. The administration's plan, suspended just before taking effect, caused confusion and panic among state authorities and non-profit organisations, among others.
Judge Loren L. AliKhan ruled that the administration did not fully understand the scope of the restrictions and greater clarity is needed. Democratic attorneys general from 22 states also filed their own lawsuit to block the Washington decision.
Freezing of grants. Court decision made
AP noted that Donald Trump's plan aimed to align federal spending with his conservative priorities, including increasing fossil fuel production, withdrawing protections for transgender individuals, and abandoning actions for diversity, equality, and inclusion. This would have affected programmes promoting policies related to abortion and ecology.
While the White House assured that direct assistance programmes like Social Security, Medicare, and food stamps would remain untouched, others, including providing Meals on Wheels for the elderly and disabled and infrastructure grants, remained uncertain.
The lawsuit leading to the issuance of the order by the judge was filed by non-profit organisations. They feared that even short-term funding gaps could cause employee layoffs or closures of many institutions.
The Trump administration defended the freeze on funds as fulfilling election promises about overhauling government spending. The White House emphasised the need to align federal spending with the will of the nation and downplayed concerns over the impact of the freeze, assessed AP.
