--- title: Funding Freeze Chaos Dominates First White House Briefing description: A federal judge blocked the funding freeze from going into effect, after a day in which Trump's White House scrambled to contain confusion. canonical: https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-01-28T22:16:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-19T18:24:26.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Funding Freeze Chaos Dominates First White House Briefing og:description: A federal judge blocked the funding freeze from going into effect, after a day in which Trump's White House scrambled to contain confusion. og:url: https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcebd46c583def0/6998b2d01f67098870f54245/GettyImages-2196440393.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Holds First Press Briefing Of Trump's 2nd Term og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Funding Freeze Chaos Dominates First White House Briefing twitter:description: A federal judge blocked the funding freeze from going into effect, after a day in which Trump's White House scrambled to contain confusion. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcebd46c583def0/6998b2d01f67098870f54245/GettyImages-2196440393.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Confusion Over Federal Funding Freeze Marks First White House Briefing, Hours Before Judge Blocks It > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Senate Minority Leader Says Trump's Funding Freeze is Causing 'Chaos', While GOP Says Its Working [Watch (HLS stream): Senate Minority Leader Says Trump's Funding Freeze is Causing 'Chaos', While GOP Says Its Working](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9HeyXEml.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2025-01-28. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says the president's funding freeze is causing "chaos" across the country, but Republicans say the pause is a good thing and "it's working."_  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Jan 19, 2026 6:24 PM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2025 10:16 PM UTC  White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds her first news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 28, 2025 White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds her first news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 28, 2025 Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Jan 19, 2026 6:24 PM UTCPublished: Jan 28, 2025 10:16 PM UTC Donald Trump’s White House scrambled Tuesday to contain the confusion over a sweeping freeze of federal funds announced the night before, as many in Washington and around the country struggled to sort out which popular government programs were about to come to an abrupt halt. Minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline for the freeze to take effect, a federal judge [blocked](https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-pause-federal-grants-aid-f9948b9996c0ca971f0065fac85737ce?user%5Femail=4011bda061c4f8f680ca758bb4255e2cf29abba5a8ec3a80cf06c0fc41d53744&utm%5Fmedium=APNews%5FAlerts&utm%5Fsource=Sailthru%5FAP&utm%5Fcampaign=NewsAlert%5FJan28%5F2025%5F05:06PM&utm%5Fterm=AP%20News%20Alerts) it until at least Monday, the Associated Press reported. That came after the first press briefing of the new Administration, which was dominated by questions about the freeze. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “this is not a blanket pause on federal assistance in grant programs from the Trump administration.” She said that payments for “Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals, will not be impacted by this pause.” Leavitt refused to clearly state whether Medicaid, the health insurance safety net, would be impacted by the freeze, but the White House eventually clarified it wasn't intended to be. But the memo sent the night before from the White House had a broader mandate. The White House directed federal agencies to "temporarily pause all activities” relating to dispersing funds “including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” By Tuesday morning, the impact of the initial order was already being felt. States had trouble accessing funds for Medicaid. Reports surfaced of funding snags for Head Start preschool and rental assistance programs. The future of grants for medical research, fire mitigation, and disaster response were in doubt. In a new message released in the middle of the day on Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget clarified that it was instructing agencies and Congress to only bring spending in line with Trump’s executive orders to shut down foreign aid, environmental initiatives and efforts to recruit minority workers into federal agencies. Yet many remained confused about the fate of scores of federally funded programs that are not directly focused on those three areas. Leavitt told reporters that the pause in federal funding was designed to give Trump appointees time to review all federal funding going out the door to be sure it is “in line with the President’s agenda.” Yet many federal programs are run by outside organizations that rely on routine payments to pay staff and provide services. Without federal disbursements, some of those organizations may have to shut down. The funding freeze was the latest sign that Trump intends to test how far he can push the limits of presidential power. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to decide how much funding should be spent on federal programs, but Trump showed this week that he intends to ignore Congressional directives and block money for programs he doesn’t like. The top Democrat in the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said the order was an example of “more lawlessness and chaos in America” from Trump. “Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law,” Schumer said. “These grants help people in red states and blue states, support families, help parents raise kids, and lead to stronger communities.” A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general announced plans to challenge the freeze in court. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/"},"headline":"Confusion Over Federal Funding Freeze Marks First White House Briefing, Hours Before Judge Blocks It","datePublished":"2025-01-28T22:16:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-19T18:24:26.000Z","description":"Minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline, a federal judge temporarily blocked it.","url":"https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcebd46c583def0/6998b2d01f67098870f54245/GettyImages-2196440393.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bcebd46c583def0/6998b2d01f67098870f54245/GettyImages-2196440393.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Holds First Press Briefing Of Trump's 2nd Term","caption":"White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Holds First Press Briefing Of Trump's 2nd Term","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/","name":"Confusion Over Federal Funding Freeze Marks First White House Briefing, Hours Before Judge Blocks It"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Senate Minority Leader Says Trump's Funding Freeze is Causing 'Chaos', While GOP Says Its Working","description":"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says the president's funding freeze is causing \"chaos\" across the country, but Republicans say the pause is a good thing and \"it's working.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9HeyXEml/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-01-28T22:48:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9HeyXEml.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/","duration":"PT3M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7210734/trump-funding-freeze-medicaid/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```