A United States judge, Loren AliKhan, on Tuesday temporarily stopped President Donald Trump’s order to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans.
AliKhan’s order came just minutes before Trump’s order was set to come into effect on Tuesday.
At a hearing in Washington, D.C., federal court, U.S. District, AliKhan ordered the Trump administration not to block “open awards,” or funds that were already slated to be disbursed, until at least February 3, this year.
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According to the judge, her temporary ruling was intended to “maintain the status quo,” adding that it doesn’t block the Trump administration from freezing funding to new programs, or require it to restart funding that has already ended.
AliKhan however, scheduled another hearing for Monday to determine the next steps.
Society watch reports that the American Public Health Association, the National Council of Nonprofits and Main Street Alliance had sued over the directive issued by the acting head of the United States Office of Management and Budget on Monday.
It had been set to take effect at 5 pm EST on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had said Trump’s plan to pause billions of dollars in US government funding was about being “good stewards of tax dollars”.
