Welcome to the News Hour. President Trump's efforts to put the breaks on government spending

that was already approved by Congress and signed into law have hit a stumbling block.

Late this afternoon, a federal judge ordered a temporary halt on a sweeping White House plan

to pause funding for all federal grants and loans. The funding freeze was laid out in a memo from the Office of Management and Budget late yesterday

and was set to take effect today.

As Laura Barone Lopez reports, that led to a flurry of confusion and clarifications.

Good afternoon, everybody.

At the first White House briefing of the second Trump administration,

Press Secretary Caroline Levitt addressed an unprecedented order by the White House

to freeze all federal financial assistance.

It is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs. It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs.

It means no more funding for the green news scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies.

Levitt said the pause would not affect individuals receiving, quote, direct assistance from the government,

but didn't answer which specific programs, including Medicaid, were affected.

The action created widespread confusion.

In a statement provided to the News Hour, Meals on Wheels, a nutrition program which delivers food to millions of seniors, said,

the lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos for local Meals-on-Wills providers,

not knowing whether they're going to be reimbursed for meals served today, tomorrow, who knows how long this could go on.

After the briefing, OMB clarified that mandatory

programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause. The freeze could still affect

...