MR. MONEY LAGS

A federal judge blocked Donald Trump’s pause on trillions of dollars worth of funding for programs that Americans rely on, minutes before it was set to go into effect this evening. The battle is just beginning.

• President Donald Trump unleashed nationwide chaos by announcing a pause on federal funding for a sweeping range of programs, pending a review on whether they line up with his priorities. If Trump gets his way, a shockingly long list of normie, everyday components to the fabric of American life could lose funding: child care, housing programs, services for homeless people, hospitals, public safety, disaster relief, veterans’ care, and so much else.

• Right before the pause was set to go into effect at 5 p.m. ET, District Judge Loren L. AliKhan (who was appointed by former President Joe Biden) blocked the action. The freeze is now halted until Monday. At the buzzer!

• The administration says that services including Social Security, Medicare, and food stamps won’t be affected… but, regardless, there have been problems with the payment systems. Smooth rollout, boys! For everyone with student loans: The federal pause would only apply to discretionary loans, according to an Education Department memo first obtained by What A Day. Other types of loans, including federal Pell grants and those that provide assistance to low-income families, won’t be affected. But the Trump administration is still working to “identify other programs that are not covered” by the pause, according to the memo.

• Clearly, the Trump administration didn’t think all this through — that memo was sent to Education Department staff this afternoon, half-a-day after the pause was announced. This story has moved so fast that it’s been hard to keep track of exactly what will be affected. But one thing is certain: Trump is trying to reshape the American government as quickly as possible, as if he’d like to smash it into pieces and then put it back together in a shape he likes better. “We’ve got what amounts to 60 years of tradition and policies that are thrown up in the air,” Donald Kettl, former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, told the Washington Post.

• Some Republican lawmakers admitted that even they’re uncomfortable with the pause: “Obviously all of our constituents are concerned,” Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) told the Post. “But the Biden administration was shoveling money out the door so fast that there’s real questions as to whether they went through the proper protocols on it.” So, the appropriate response is to freeze everything?

Can Trump simply cut off all that money with a wag of his little finger? A titanic legal battle is now underway to answer that very question.

• Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James said she’ll ask a Manhattan federal court to block Trump’s directive: “My office will be taking imminent legal action against this administration’s unconstitutional pause on federal funding,” she wrote on X. Attorneys general in California, Massachusetts, Arizona and New Jersey have also said they’re looking into the matter, or plan on filing lawsuits.

• Who’s going to win? Trump has long voiced his interest in stopping federal spending that’s doled out by Congress, a move called impoundment. That used to be easy to do, but after former President Richard Nixon canceled billions of dollars in spending, Congress passed a law that forces a president to get permission from lawmakers first.

• Surprise surprise, Trump and his cronies believe that law is unconstitutional, and MAGAworld wants to unleash his power to cut federal spending and reshape the government in his autocratic image. However, courts have historically sided with the law’s supporters, who argue that the president’s power to, you know, bring almost every program in the United States to a screeching halt, is in fact quite limited. The freeze “is clearly unlawful,” Georgetown Law Professor David Super wrote on X.

Bottom line: It seems likely Trump’s freeze is illegal. Does he care? No. Will the courts bend to his favor? We’ll see.

Are you being affected by what the Trump administration has been doing? Got any tips, emails to share, or just wanna vent?

Reach out to me on Signal at 413-726-4767 or email at whataday@crooked.com. I’ll keep you totally anonymous — I’d love to chat. Thanks to those who have reached out!

GET ME BUY(OUT) OF HERE!

The Trump administration is offering buyouts to any government employee who doesn’t want to return to office, according to three screenshots of an email obtained by What A Day.

“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people,” the email reads. “If you choose not to remain in your current role … you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure.”

The email continues: “This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6.”

One section of the email lays out the Trump administration’s standards of conduct, which calls for employees to be “loyal, trustworthy.” Those who engage in “misconduct” could be investigated and disciplined, the email warns.

Axios first reported the buyouts. 

The email is intended to “make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards,” an official told Axios. “We’re five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable.”

Fact check: Only 10 percent of federal employees work fully remotely, while 54 percent are required to go into work, according to an Office of Management and Budget report from last summer. Others are eligible for remote work.

It’s unclear where that money would come from, or how much each employee would be paid to resign (they would be paid through September 30). It appears to be part of Trump’s purge to rid his administration of dissenters, as well as cut costs by shrinking the federal workforce

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to stop gender transitions for anyone under 19 years old. It comes amid Trump’s crusade against transgender rights, which also involves trying to push transgender servicemembers out of the military. That order is already facing legal pushback from transgender active-duty members.

At least one organization that fights child malnutrition in Africa has been ordered to stop working by the Trump administration, a company employee told What A Day. That’s despite an apparent exemption for programs providing emergency food assistance.

Caroline Kennedy, cousin of brainworm survivor Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wrote a letter to senators warning them against confirming him as the head of Health and Human Services. “I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together,” she wrote. “It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator.” She also detailed his history of exploiting parents of sick children with antivaxx rhetoric for financial gain, and called him “addicted to attention and power.” Get his ass, Caroline!

Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on February 4, the first visit from a foreign leader during Trump’s second term in office.

Google Maps caved to Trump and relabeled the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” in the tech giant’s latest spasm of executive brown-nosing. It’ll only affect users in the United States, so at least, in this case, people around the world won’t be subjected to our country’s bullshit.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) won’t seek re-election, unexpectedly opening up a key Senate seat that’s bound to be a high-stakes race for both parties. There are rumors that Pete Buttigieg may run now that his time yelling at our nation’s airlines and trying to fix our roads has come to an end. This could be fun.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told the former sister-in-law of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that — if she testified against the former Fox News host — senators would vote against his confirmation. She did, and Thillis voted in favor of Hegseth’s nomination anyways. That single vote would’ve blocked Hegseth from getting the job, for which he is supremely unqualified. Profiles in courage!

Republicans trust Trump as much as their own doctor to make the correct decisions when it comes to health recommendations, according to a new Axios poll. Looking to a guy who’s addicted to Diet Coke, fast food, rage-tweeting at 3:00 a.m., yelling, lying, being very stressed, and watching TV all day for one’s health decisions wouldn’t be my journey, but okay.

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