Confusion reigns after feds pull plug on aid; Illinois sues and Pritzker blasts White House
A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s move to temporarily freeze federal loans, grants and other financial aid Tuesday, after Illinois and 21 other states sued to halt the maneuver.
The legal action came on a turbulent day when state officials had trouble accessing Medicaid, the White House tried to tamp down funding confusion and Gov. JB Pritzker accused the Trump administration of hurting working families.
In their lawsuit, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and counterparts from New York, California and other states said pausing assistance was unconstitutional and would “disrupt the lives of millions of Americans.”
On Monday, Trump’s acting Office of Management and Budget chief directed all federal agency leaders to scrutinize financial assistance programs to see if they are “consistent with the president’s policies and requirements.”
The order was supposed to go into effect at 4 p.m. Central Time. But U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan issued a stay until Feb. 3.
“The U.S. Constitution clearly states that Congress has the power of the purse,” Pritzker said Tuesday at a news conference. “What Donald Trump tried to do in the last 24 hours is illegal.”
The OMB plan would hurt “working families who rely on federal assistance to pay their rent, people who need help paying their utility bills, and parents who need critical programs like Head Start,” Pritzker added.
Illinois state agencies on Tuesday reported issues accessing federal funding sites and disbursement systems, including Medicaid systems.
The OMB’s memo stated Trump had a “mandate to increase the impact of every federal taxpayer dollar.”
Among administration priorities listed were “ending wokeness,” and the “weaponization of government.” Also, the use of “federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” Acting OMB Director Matthew Vaeth said.
On Tuesday, the White House clarified the order doesn’t include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP.
But uncertainty prevails about the fate of trillions of dollars that help fund road repairs, university research, crime prevention, schools and public transit.
“We are deeply concerned about the potential implications of a pause in federal grant funding for Pace and the communities we serve,” Pace spokeswoman Maggie Daly Skogsbakken said. “We are evaluating the situation as more information becomes available. At this time, it is too early to determine the specific impacts.”
Pritzker said White House attempts to walk back policy “does not match what we saw on the ground. They assured us Medicaid would be unaffected. That was a lie. Our state agencies were not able to access the Medicaid system until an hour ago,” he said at 4 p.m.
At a briefing, Raoul warned “Democrats and Republicans alike will be negatively affected.”
The OMB asked agencies to submit their findings to the White House by Feb. 10.
· Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.