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- A judge has paused President Donald Trump’s pause of federal grants, AP reported.
- The directive would have temporarily frozen federal grants to agencies like FEMA and the SBA.
- The judge’s ruling pauses the order until Monday afternoon, protecting funding for existing programs.
A federal judge has temporarily prevented President Donald Trump’s directive to freeze federal grants from taking effect Tuesday evening, according to the Associated Press.
US District Judge Loren L. AliKhan’s decision will protect funding for existing programs until Monday afternoon.
The directive, which caused widespread panic among federal employees when it was announced early Tuesday, would have impacted funding at agencies like FEMA and the Small Business Administration.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The temporary reprieve was won by a coalition of nonprofit, health care, and small business advocacy groups that sued the federal Office of Management and Budget to halt the freeze.
The lawsuit, filed by the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, the Main Street Alliance, and the nonprofit SAGE, said the freeze order was “devoid of any legal basis” and would harm hundreds of thousands of grant recipients who depend on federal grants.
It’s one of two major lawsuits filed Tuesday to challenge the threatened funding freeze. The other is being brought by the state attorneys general of New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
Both cases seek an eventual permanent injunction against the freeze.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
