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Mass. is suing over federal funding freeze as Medicaid system appears to be down
A federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze, which the White House says doesn't affect individuals, but federal payment portals are glitching.
A federal judge ordered a temporary halt on President Donald Trump’s federal aid spending freeze amid panic and confusion about the freeze itself, what it would affect, and why some federal aid sites like Medicaid appeared to be shut down Tuesday evening.
While welfare programs that aid individuals like Social Security should remain unaffected, the freeze could disrupt trillions of dollars in health care research, education programs and other initiatives, including grants. US District Judge Loren AliKhan blocked the order until next week just minutes before it was set to go into effect Tuesday evening, the Associated Press reported.
Before AliKhan paused the spending freeze through Monday, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, along with nearly two dozen other state AGs, sued the Trump administration in federal court in Rhode Island.
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AliKhan’s temporary block stemmed from a separate lawsuit, Campbell’s office said.
Campbell noted in a press release that Massachusetts receives more than $20 billion in federal funding annually and employs nearly 3,000 people through federal grants. The lawsuit looks to immediately halt the aid freeze and “preserve essential funding” for health, infrastructure, disaster relief, and more, Campbell’s office said.
“Today’s action sends a clear message to the Trump Administration that attorneys general will continue to do our jobs to protect our residents and state economies, and hold anyone, including the President, accountable for causing them harm,” Campbell said in a statement.
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Campbell, as well as attorneys general from New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island first led the suit, while the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia all joined later.
Trump’s freeze targets ‘DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal’
In response to one of Trump’s more than 300 executive orders, the Office of Management and Budget released a memo Monday that called on federal agencies to “temporarily pause” all activities related to the financial assistance, effective Tuesday at 5 p.m.
“This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities,” the memo said, affecting “activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
But, “Nothing in this memo should be construed to impact Medicare or Social Security benefits,” a footnote read.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt further clarified during her first briefing Tuesday that individual benefits including Social Security, Medicare, SNAP, and welfare would not be affected by the freeze.
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“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance in grant programs from the Trump administration,” Leavitt said. “However, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Medicaid, other low-income services sites down, sparking panic
Leavitt addressed lingering questions about the freeze Tuesday while the Medicaid payment system website was reportedly shut down, according to multiple governors and legislators, which seemingly contradicted the Trump administration’s claim that the freeze wouldn’t affect benefits received by individuals.
The AP reported on the apparent glitch that left Medicaid and Head Start staff scrambling to cover payroll and other payments after they were locked out of their system.
Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, wrote on X that news that individuals won’t be affected is “BS,” referring specifically to Head Start organizations not being able to access their payment site Tuesday afternoon.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren also noted on X that she heard from a transitional housing nonprofit for veterans, who said Trump’s shutdown of funding “could mean some veterans face eviction.” Warren did not name the nonprofit.
Rep. Richard Neal, who represents Western and Central Massachusetts, said that health centers across the state “are unable to access their Payment Management System.”
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“This is how they get paid by the federal government. That’s 2 million people in MA whose health insurance is at risk,” Neal wrote.
Leavitt reiterated on X that the Medicaid portal outage would be back online and that no payments were affected.
“The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly,” Leavitt wrote.
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