By Wednesday afternoon, the Trump administration issued a one-page memo saying it was dropping plans for the funding pause for now. By Briana Bierschbach,. Sydney Kashiwagi and. Rochelle Olson. Minnesota agencies, nonprofits, local governments and health care organizations were all scrambling Tuesday to understand the ramifications of a national federal assistance freeze before it was temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The swirl sparked a panic that funding could be on hold for weeks while the federal government did a massive ideological review of how taxpayer dollars were being spent.
Minnesota quickly joined a legal effort against the directive and Gov. I know you have a lot of questions. Grants that have been awarded but not sent yet could also be frozen. Nonprofits, higher education institutions, state and local governments and health care organizations all receive federal funding.
There are some major programs that would be excluded from the pause in assistance. Both the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State said there will be no impact to Pell grants or direct loans. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said food stamps are also exempt. However, she was unable to say whether Medicaid benefits would be affected by the pause.
The program provides heating assistance to millions of households across the country. The memo said the freeze was slated to start at 5 p. EST on Tuesday, or 4 p. CST, but the judge issued an injunction minutes earlier. Minnesota receives financial assistance to pay for education, infrastructure and health care programs. A number of state agencies contacted by the Minnesota Star Tribune were still reviewing the directive and trying to figure out what it meant for their programs. The impact on other DHS programs, including other funding supporting Medicaid program administration, remains unclear.
District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action minutes before it was set to go into effect. His GOP counterpart, Sen. City officials were trying to figure out Tuesday how the pause might affect their operations. The league was encouraging cities to share examples of projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, so it can help advocate against a pause or reduction in funding.
