Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about the Trump administration’s funding freeze

The White House budget office ordered a pause on a wide range of grants and loans disbursed by the federal government, throwing into question the fate of trillions of dollars that go to programs funding all aspects of American life.

The budget office’s memo, sent Monday night, sparked immediate and widespread confusion as federal agencies struggled to figure out which funds were or were not frozen before the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, when the halt was supposed to take effect. More chaos ensued when some states discovered they were unable to access federal dollars for some programs, such as Medicaid, that the White House said were not intended to be impacted by the freeze.

Capping a frenetic day, a federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from imposing the sweeping pause on trillions of dollars in federal spending. The order prevented the new restrictions from taking effect until at least Feb. 3, buying time for a coalition of public health advocates, nonprofits and businesses - represented by the left-leaning group Democracy Forward - to proceed with its case challenging the freeze.

Some answers about what could be frozen have emerged: For example, student loan disbursements will not be impacted by the freeze, an Education Department spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The Post is tracking which federal funds and programs are subject to the hold - should it be reinstated - which funds will not be affected and which buckets of money appear to be in limbo. We will update this list as we know more.

Subject to freeze

- Research grants. Some National Institutes of Health grants for research projects that are already underway are subject to the Trump administration’s pause, according to an NIH employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. Affected researchers include those outside NIH who have received funds in previous years, the person said, predicting disastrous results as it becomes impossible to plan experiments, pay staff and buy supplies. NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. The funding pause would affect researchers at universities, medical schools and other research institutes outside of the NIH who have received funds. A spokeswoman for NIH did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.

- Funding for electric vehicles. Payments for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program will be paused, according to a message sent out by the Federal Highway Administration that was obtained by The Post. Asked about this, the Transportation Department issued a statement Tuesday declaring that it was “supporting” the budget office memo halting some federal spending and noting that newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy “has stated his intent to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent effectively and efficiently.”

- Discretionary grants at the Education Department. A spokeswoman said Tuesday that the department was pausing all discretionary grants, which are doled out to school districts, colleges, universities and nonprofits to support a wide variety of initiatives, from after-school programs to charter schools to the Special Olympics.

- Some grants for clean energy. In a Day 1 executive order on “unleashing American energy,” Trump directed federal agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds” under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021. The two laws authorized grants for states and nonprofit groups to install rooftop solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations and other green technologies. The budget office has confirmed that the funding freeze applies to grants targeted by this executive order.

Not frozen

- Social Security, Medicare and SNAP. The budget office released a memo Tuesday clarifying that “any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process.”

- Federal student loans and Pell grants. These funds for eligible low- and moderate-income college students are not affected by the freeze, an Education Department spokeswoman said Monday.

- Formula grants. Programs that are distributed based on a formula also will not be not frozen, the Education Department spokeswoman said. That includes two of the biggest K-12 programs: Title I, a $16.5 billion initiative that funds high-poverty schools; and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a $13.3 billion program that supplements the cost of educating students with disabilities.

- Grant programs for historically Black colleges and universities and predominantly Black institutions. An Education Department spokesperson said: “The administration strongly supports HBCUs and MSIs (Minority Serving Institutions). Funds flowing under those grant programs will not be paused, but we will work to ensure the programs are in line with the president’s priorities.”

- Money for small businesses and farmers. The budget office document published Tuesday said these programs would not be frozen.

Uncertain

- Medicaid. The budget office put out a memo Tuesday saying Medicaid was not meant to be affected. However, state and federal officials told The Post on Tuesday that they were unable to draw down funds for Medicaid from a federal payment management system, effectively freezing the program around the country. The insurance program provides coverage to tens of millions of Americans, and state officials said they were weighing the need to halt payments to doctors and hospitals.

- Head Start Association programs. The Tuesday budget office document said Head Start funding would continue to flow; the association funds preschool centers nationwide. But at least some centers were unable to access the payment system Tuesday, staff told The Post.

- Free breakfast and lunch at schools. A spokesperson for the U.S. Agriculture Department did not respond to a question asking about the status of the two meal programs Tuesday.

- Army contracting. In one sign of confusion, the U.S. Army said in a statement on a public contracting website on Monday that the Army secretary’s office had placed a hold on “all contracting actions” by Army Contracting Command. After The Post inquired about the statement, it disappeared from the contracting website. Ellen Lovett, an Army spokeswoman, said in a statement Tuesday that Army contracting activities continue to move forward. “As is customary, the Army is currently conducting a review of existing solicitations and wards of contracts to ensure that our programs are aligned with the incoming leadership’s policies and directives,” the statement said. “We remain committed to transparency and being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

- Rental assistance, such as housing vouchers. Landlords rely on housing vouchers to lease apartments to low-income tenants while staying profitable themselves. Tenants can use the vouchers to pay landlords directly. A document released by the budget office Tuesday said rental assistance was not impacted by the freeze - but by midday Tuesday, grantees were receiving system error messages when they attempted to access funds.

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Laura Meckler, Jeff Stein, Dan Diamond, Rachel Siegel, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Carol Leonnig, Richard Sima and Amanda Morris contributed to this report.