MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
A federal judge has temporarily stopped an effort by the Trump administration to pause federal funding for grant programs that do not fit with President Trump's policy goals. This follows a day of confusion about just what would be affected by a White House budget office edict that came down last night. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained the goal this way.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT: And the reason for this is to ensure that every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions that this president has taken.
KELLY: Here to get us up to speed is NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith. Hey, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hello.
KELLY: Let's start with this latest twist in what has indeed been a confusing day - this stay issued by a federal judge here in Washington. Does the judge weigh in on the merits of the new Trump White House policy?
KEITH: No, this is simply a temporary restraining order to allow the nonprofit groups that had sued time to build their cases. The groups had argued that there would be harm to people all over the country if the policy was allowed to go into effect. More fulsome arguments are now scheduled for Monday. So this is more of a temporary pause to the pause until the merits can be argued.
KELLY: A freeze to the freeze.
KEITH: Yeah.
KELLY: OK. Back to the White House memo and what it was calling for - what was it calling for? What do we know?
KEITH: Yeah, last night the acting director of the White House budget office sent a memo that said starting today there would be a pause in federal grants and other support programs to make sure that all the money being spent by the federal government is in line with the president's priorities. And let me just read you a line from this memo. Quote, "the use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and Green New Deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve." The language on the original memo was quite broad and had caused a lot of alarm about just what funding might be cut off. So throughout the day, there had been some clarifications from the White House. Among those clarifications is that the pause wasn't going to apply across the board, wouldn't affect direct payments to Americans - like Medicaid, student loans, food assistance or even things like Meals on Wheels. The White House has had a lot to say about what isn't affected, but they have been far less clear about what would be affected and how.
KELLY: Great. I spoke elsewhere on the program tonight to a state attorney general who is part of another lawsuit over this same memo. Would you just sum up for us what it is that these folks and others are pushing back on here?
KEITH: Yeah, many legal experts say that this move, even to temporarily pause funding that was already appropriated by Congress, is both illegal and unconstitutional. Congress has the power of the purse under the Constitution. And there's also a law called the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that says the president can't unilaterally decide to ignore the direction of Congress on spending. I spoke with Samuel Bagenstos, who is a professor at the University of Michigan. He was the general counsel to the White House budget office during the first two years of the Biden administration.
SAMUEL BAGENSTOS: When Congress passes a law and the president signs it, that sets the policy of the government. And if the president doesn't like it, the president needs to go back and convince Congress to pass a new law. The president can't pick and choose which laws he's going to follow.
KELLY: Tam, about 30 seconds here. What does the White House say about that question of legality?
KEITH: Yeah, Karoline Leavitt was asked about this, and she says, essentially, they believe they can do it, and they intend to do it. And really, this is one of several moves that we've seen in the past week of the Trump administration where they are testing the limits of the president's executive authority with an eye to the Supreme Court.
KELLY: NPR's Tamara Keith joining us from the White House. Thank you.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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