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President Trump’s temporary pause on federal grant and loan programs was blocked minutes before it was supposed to go into effect yesterday afternoon.

The Wall Street Journal reported US District Judge Loren AliKhan, a Biden appointee, stopped federal agencies from implementing the pause, adding that she sought to “preserve the status quo” until an oral argument on the pause can be held, which has been slated for Monday morning.

At the same time, a coalition of 23 Democratic state attorneys general said they planned to file a lawsuit to stop the funding freeze, which they alleged was unconstitutional.

The pause was announced on Monday by Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which stated it was designed to comply with Trump’s executive orders to erase “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies” from federal programs. However, the pause created concern and confusion amid incorrect reports that individual assistance programs such as Social Security and Medicare benefits would be included.

Adding to the confusion was the lack of specifics on which programs were to be directly impacted – among the programs that might have been impacted are the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program and Environmental Protection Agency grants to states and localities for clean water infrastructure.

“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “It is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

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