Trump Handed First Major Loss as Judge Blocks His Funding Freeze

The spending suspension, directed by OMB, is expected to impact 2,600 accounts across the government and pause the distributions of tens of billions of dollars to programs across the nation, until Trump decides the agencies distributing the money fall in line with his agenda. Some of the programs dependent on the congressionally appropriated funds could include infrastructure initiatives, housing assistance, disaster relief, educational programs, grants for suicide prevention efforts including the suicide lifeline, money for rural hospitals, opioid prevention funding, and HIV/AIDS treatment.

The freeze will also implicate FEMA funding, and, by extension, funds to extinguish and control the raging wildfires around Los Angeles, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“I think the ambiguity is by design,” Bonta said during the joint attorneys general press conference. “That confusing, that chilling effect, has swept in nearly all the programs that the federal government funds.”