A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the Trump administration's planned freeze on federal funding from going into effect.
The ruling is part of a suit brought by a coalition of nonprofits, who have argued that the freeze ordered by the White House's Office of Management and Budget would do "irreparable harm" to their organizations. On Monday, the judge agreed with that claim.
The new order is a legal step above the administrative stay the court had placed on the freeze last week.
RELATED STORY | Judge temporarily puts part of Trump’s federal funding freeze on hold
U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan ordered OMB to notify all affected government agencies in writing of the court's temporary restraining order.
"The written notice shall instruct those agencies that they may not take any steps to implement, give effect to, or reinstate under a different name the directives in OMB Memorandum M-25-13 with respect to the disbursement of Federal Funds under all open awards. It shall also instruct those agencies to release any disbursements on open awards that were paused."
OMB's order to freeze federal funds, as originally proposed, would impact a huge swath of federal funds already allocated for things like the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill projects, as well as foreign aid commitments and funding for some non-profit organizations and services.
According to a senior administration official, the federal funding freeze would not apply across the board and would not impact individual payments or assistance, including things like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits for low-income families. Social Security and Medicare payments were also not slated to be impacted.
The judge has ordered the parties in the suit to schedule next steps in the case, which will involve discussion of a potential preliminary injunction, no later than Friday, Feb. 7.
