- Some workers said Trump’s federal grant freeze has thrown government agencies into disarray, creating confusion.
- At agencies like FEMA, some tried to get payments out the door before the 5 p.m. ET Tuesday deadline.
- “The general chaos is grinding things to a halt,” one SBA employee told Business Insider, as staff struggle to adjust to the new administration.
The Trump administration’s “temporary pause” on federal grant and loan awards sparked a range of reactions from rank-and-file workers within the federal government, from frustration to outright surprise.
One Federal Emergency Management Agency employee who spoke to Business Insider Tuesday morning was blindsided by news of the funding freeze.
“The grants are frozen, is that what you said?” she asked.
Another FEMA employee described working with colleagues to try to cut checks for aid as quickly as possible. “We’re trying to get as much obligated as we can before 5 p.m. today,” the employee said. But the employee was skeptical everything would get done; granting FEMA aid is a multi-stage process and some claims hadn’t advanced far enough to be approved by the oncoming deadline.
Another federal worker said the freeze endangered two congressional grants to private foundations as well as a grant to their own agency. “They were put on hold today,” the employee said. “No payments in or out.”
For others, the freeze simply adds to the mounting issues facing the federal workforce. “We are thinking about the impact but there’s no official word,” one federal worker said. They said that Trump’s return-to-office order, the resignation of colleagues, and attempts to scrub language surrounding DEI were taking precedence.
All of the workers were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about their work. Their employment was confirmed by BI.
One former federal worker and Biden administration official, who left the government two weeks ago, said that even a brief pause can have outsize impacts. Short delays, they said, lead to much longer delays, particularly when private workers who contract with the federal government can’t be paid.
Two employees at the Small Business Administration said they hadn’t been given any indications about how their work would be impacted. The SBA gives out loans to businesses to aid in job creation and recovery from emergencies.
It’s been “mostly just chaos, with all the HR changes,” one of the SBA employees said. “The general chaos is grinding things to a halt as people don’t know what is going to come next.”
Minutes before the freeze was set to take effect at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan temporarily blocked the action, according to the Associated Press. The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.
The decision to withhold funds isn’t unprecedented. In 2017, shortly after President Trump first took office, ProPublica reported that the Environmental Protection Agency was stopped from making grants and signing new contracts.
However, the size and nature of the most recent freeze, with only Social Security and Medicare benefits and direct benefits to individuals exempted, is notable.
On Tuesday morning, nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the freeze, and six attorneys general announced they plan to sue. At a press conference on Tuesday morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer called the freeze “unconstitutional” and “illegal.”
Have a tip? Know more? Reach Jack Newsham via email (jnewsham@businessinsider.com) or via Signal (+1-314-971-1627). Do not use a work device.
