Wednesday Briefing

Chaos and uncertainty after Trump freezes spending

A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked an order by President Trump to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. Separately, Democratic attorneys general in 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the order, saying Trump had gone far beyond his legal powers.

Even before 5 p.m., when the freeze was to take effect, a variety of systems and programs were disrupted, leaving millions unsure if they would lose access to jobs, services and health care. Here’s the latest.

Trump’s order, which has led to confusion and outrage, is part of an effort to remake the government in his image, following sweeping cuts to international aid that he introduced last week and an effort to scuttle any government policy or program that he and his allies might call “woke.”

His administration says the freeze would let it inspect programs to make sure they don’t conflict with its agenda, subjecting them to what my colleague Nicholas Nehamas calls “ideological litmus tests.” The White House says government money should not “advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and Green New Deal social engineering.”

Foreign aid: The Trump administration told organizations in other countries to stop distributing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid. Humanitarian organizations in Ukraine said they’d been forced to suspend operations that include the delivery of assistance to war veterans and to civilians displaced by the conflict there.

What to know: The leaders of global humanitarian organizations said they had “never seen anything as sweeping” as Trump’s suspension of aid, said Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent. “Many programs,” he added, “won’t be able to maintain the integrity of their projects if they stop now and then wait to restart their work later, if they are even allowed to.”