A federal judge late Tuesday temporarily paused a sweeping, short-notice Trump administration directive freezing potentially trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans.
The judge’s decision capped a day of confusion and anxiety from Washington to Albany, as officials and nonprofit leaders scrambled to determine the potential impact of the White House’s directive on programs and projects in New York and across the country.
“It’s a dagger at the heart of the average American family in red states, in blue states, in cities, in suburbs, in rural areas,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said of the Trump order. “It is just outrageous.”
Schumer and other leaders warned the freeze could have wide-reaching impacts, from universities to local law enforcement, Meals on Wheels to transportation projects, rural hospitals to community health centers.
“No state on their own is going to be able to backfill the loss of billions of federal dollars,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters Tuesday morning. “Washington: Do you realize the consequences of what you’ve done here? And do you really want us to not fund law enforcement, really want us to not fund roads and bridges?”
.@GovKathyHochul responds to Trump’s federal funding freeze, urging calm.
— Kate Lisa (@KaitlynnLisa) January 28, 2025
Says “we are into governing, not panicking”
& AG @TishJames is working on litigation strategies w/ other states
“No state on their own can backfill billions of federal dollars,” Hochul says. pic.twitter.com/BqvqCEhSAX
Democrats blasted President Donald Trump, arguing the spending freeze would hurt low income and middle class Americans.
“It is the congressional Republicans who are in total control of Congress who are enabling this egregious behavior from Donald Trump,” Rep. Dan Goldman said, calling the directive “not only unlawful, but incredibly dangerous.”
“Trump is holding all the nation’s hospitals and vital services hostage to seize power from Congress and hand it over to billionaires,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on social media. “This is a constitutional crisis.”
Schumer, Goldman, and other Democrats indicated their offices were being flooded with calls about the announced freeze.
New York Attorney General Letitia James led a cohort of AGs from across the country in challenging the Trump order.
“Not only does this administration’s new policy put people at risk, but it is plainly unconstitutional,” she said in a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “The president does not get to decide which laws to enforce and for whom.”
The Trump administration rushed to defend the freeze, attempting to clarify that programs like Medicare and Social Security would be shielded from the freeze. The freeze was announced as part of an across-the-board ideological review of federal spending.
“That’s what this pause is focused on: being good stewards of tax dollars,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her debut press briefing Tuesday.
In comments and statements shared with Spectrum News, three New York Republicans in Congress stood by the Trump administration’s freeze plan.
“President Trump’s pause on certain foreign aid, funding for some NGOs, and initiatives like DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal — while protecting Social Security and Medicare — honors the commitments we both made during the campaign,” Rep. Nick LaLota said in a statement.
“This is to ensure that our federal agencies are being responsible stewards of taxpayer money and prioritizing the needs of the American people,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said in a statement, arguing the freeze is focused on, among other things, non-governmental organizations that “undermine our national security and interests.”
“Another quick set of eyes on things doesn’t hurt,” Rep. Nick Langworthy told reporters, downplaying potential impacts of a freeze on programs in western New York. “I don’t believe this is anything that will drag on too long.”
As of publication, the offices of other New York congressional Republicans had not responded to a request for comment.
House Democrats are scheduled to meet Wednesday to determine their next steps in responding to the proposed funding freeze, according to a letter from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries shared with reporters.
Spectrum News political reporters Kate Lisa and Ryan Whalen contributed to this report.