Federal judge blocks President Trump’s freeze on federal spending from taking effect until Feb. 3, as 22 states sue over policy

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Federal judge blocks President Trump’s freeze on federal spending from taking effect until Feb. 3, as 22 states sue over policy

Federal judge blocks President Trump's freeze on federal spending from taking effect until Feb. 3, as 22 states sue over policy

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced a freeze on federal spending, a sweeping measure that impacts many programs in Minnesota.

But that freeze is now on pause. Tuesday afternoon, a federal judge blocked the freeze from taking effect until Monday, Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. CT.

Tuesday afternoon, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced at a press conference that 22 states, including Minnesota, are filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration for this action to freeze federal spending.

Under the freeze, federal departments were to stop spending on any financial assistance programs that might conflict with Trump’s executive orders.

“I do not sit around looking for ways to sue Donald Trump, but in the eight days he’s been in office, he’s made it, he’s forced me to figure out ways to sue him almost every day,” said Ellison.

Gov. Walz said the federal spending freeze would cut off funding for law enforcement, farmers, schools, child care, veterans and health care.

“This is not bold. It’s not leadership. It’s stupid, buffoonish. Childish is exactly what they did,” Walz said.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty released the following statement regarding the funding freeze:

“By halting a huge portion of federal funding and grants without warning, the Trump administration made it clear it only cares about the rich and powerful. We should stop pretending it cares about anyone else, or that it cares about public safety. This ‘pause’ — which for some critical funding would likely be permanent if the Trump administration prevails in court — attacks children who need food at school, people who need life-saving treatments, and people who need shelter to escape from domestic violence. Halting this funding is catastrophic for nearly everyone in this country.

“It strikes at our ability to keep people safe. It takes away funding for sexual assault testing, victim support, and substance use treatment. It makes it harder for both police and our office to hold people accountable because we might not be able to test evidence. It is, quite frankly, disgusting and dangerous.

“I promise that we are committed to protecting communities, unlike this administration. We are working alongside Attorney General Keith Ellison, and we are grateful for his leadership and partnership in standing up for the people in our communities. If these federal-funding pauses survive challenges in court, rest assured we will find other ways to continue supporting victims and work alongside community partners to implement the policies that prevent crime in the first place, keeping people safe.”

Late Tuesday, the Medicaid website was down, worrying people that those payments could stop, but the Trump administration says that outage was unrelated.

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Federal judge blocks President Trump’s freeze on federal spending from taking effect until Feb. 3, as 22 states sue over policy

Federal judge blocks President Trump's freeze on federal spending from taking effect until Feb. 3, as 22 states sue over policy

Among the possible industries keeping a close eye on what’s to come of the order is first responders — including at least three fire departments that were recently awarded a federal grant to fire more firefighters. 

“It just kind of puts us in this weird position,” Josh Nelson, firefighter with the South Metro Fire Department, said, adding, “We don’t really know what’s going on.”

Nelson said the department was awarded a ‘Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant’ — which allows them to hire eight more firefighters, with the hopes of getting them working by the spring.

Two other metro fire departments were also awarded SAFER Grants — the city of Lakeville reported last fall it will be able to hire 15 full-time firefighters and Bloomington says it’ll be able to hire 18 full-time firefighters. 

“It’s going to affect response times and it’s going to affect how we respond to citizens,” Nelson said of the positive impact more firefighters will make. 

SAFER Grants are one of many that are set for review by the Trump administration, leaving Nelson and his department unsure about whether the firefighters will join the department. 

“That’s a possibility, I honestly don’t know 100%.”

Last week, Ellison was also part of a 21-state lawsuit seeking to block Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.

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Gov. Walz, AG Ellison discuss impact of federal funding freeze on Minnesota