Judge temporarily blocks policy that would freeze federal grant funding | The Excerpt
On Wednesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Paste BN Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen takes a look at what's next after a federal judge temporarily blocked a Trump administration policy that aimed to review grants and loans to ensure they complied with his priorities. Caroline Kennedy calls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a predator ahead of his confirmation hearing. The State Department allows the distribution of H.I.V. medications in foreign countries to continue. It had been frozen after President Trump ordered a pause on foreign aid.Trump orders the federal government not to fund or assist with gender transitions for youth. A new strain of bird flu has been found in California. Humanity is at its closest yet to destroying itself, according to Tuesday's reset of the "Doomsday Clock."
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, January 29th, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, the aftermath of a Trump move aimed at freezing federal grant funding, plus what a Trump order means for the federal government and youth gender transitions, and the doomsday clock has an ominous update.
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A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked a Trump administration policy that aimed to review grants and loans to ensure they complied with his priorities, which lawmakers and legal experts blasted as unconstitutional.
Chuck Schumer:
This is a dagger at the heart of the average American family in red states, in blue states, in cities, in suburbs, in rural areas. It is just outrageous.
Taylor Wilson:
That's Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. For more on the judge's decision and what might come next, I caught up with Paste BN Justice Department correspondent Bart Jansen. Bart, thanks for hopping on a busy day.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Bart, we'll get to what the judge decided here in a second, but can you just give us some of the basics on what this pause was, what was announced earlier in the day and kind of which federal grants and loans would it have potentially impacted?
Bart Jansen:
Yeah, basically the Trump White House, the Office of Management and Budget wanted to take a look at grant and loan funding that was going out the door to make sure that it followed policies that the Trump administration wants to endorse. The idea was that he's signed executive orders to not follow the Green New Deal in terms of climate policy, to not support programs for diversity and inclusion and hiring practices. And so he wants to make sure that the funding going out to grant recipients isn't going to go to places that would have those policies he opposes. White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt made a point of saying that this would not halt funding for overall federal programs such as social security payments going specifically to individuals, or Medicare payments going specifically to individuals. Those would continue. But what they were aiming to do, they noticed that $37 million was about to go out the door to the World Health Organization.
Of course, Trump has ordered the government to withdraw from the WHO, and so they didn't want to send that money. And she said another $50 million was earmarked for condoms in Gaza, which she considered a preposterous expenditure. And so they were stopping that. And basically they want to work their way through all sorts of programs to make sure that they align with Trump's priorities. Congress is written into the Constitution as the folks who decide spending priorities. And so Democratic lawmakers blasted the policy that was released late Monday, they were hearing panicked calls from groups that received funding, worried that their funding was just going to be cut off overnight by a deadline of 5:00 PM, Tuesday. And so lawmakers were saying, \Hey, it's Congress that sets spending priorities.\ It's Trump's place just to carry out those spending priorities. But Trump argues that as the executive, he should have a say in whether those meet his priorities. So that's the battle that's being waged now in federal court.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, and we expected the courts to have a say and they did. A federal judge temporarily blocked this move later yesterday, Tuesday. What can you tell us about this move from US district Judge Loren AliKhan?
Bart Jansen:
Two lawsuits were filed, one from a group of advocacy groups from the nonprofits, from public health agencies, and from small businesses. They were the ones who got a hearing at 4:00 in the afternoon about whether this policy was going to take effect. And the judge ruled that it would not go into effect immediately. She temporarily blocked it, but she's going to hold another hearing on Monday. And so we'll see how the litigation plays out at that point. What the judge said she wanted to do was just hold the status quo for a few days while the litigants on both sides, and she can sort out what the legal dispute is, and make a decision about whether there should be a more permanent block on the policy or whether it could go forward.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Lots still to be decided. Bart Jansen covers the Justice Department for Paste BN. Thank you, Bart.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
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Taylor Wilson:
Caroline Kennedy, the only living child of former US President John F. Kennedy, in a video posted on social media yesterday, called her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr, President Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, a predator. In the video where she's reading aloud a letter she wrote to senators, she praised her cousin for recovering from substance abuse, but said before getting sober, he encouraged siblings and cousins to use drugs, and they wound up addicted, ill, or dead. She said broadly that her cousin had gone on to misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life. She also said he's not qualified for the job.
Caroline Kennedy:
He lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience. His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed.
Taylor Wilson:
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Caroline Kennedy's son, Jack Schlossberg, posted the video on X, formerly Twitter. He said his mother had sent it to a senate committee, an action first reported by the Washington Post. Kennedy ran for president as a Democrat in 2024, and eventually dropped out and endorsed Trump. He brought with him his newly minted Make America Healthy Again movement, which focused on chronic diseases, additives, and processed food, chemicals in the environment, and pharmaceutical drugs. RFK Jr's confirmation hearing is scheduled for this morning at 10:00 AM, Eastern Time.
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The Trump administration has issued a waiver for life-saving medicines and medical services, according to the New York Times. The move appears to allow for the distribution of HIV medications, but it was not immediately clear early this morning whether the waiver extended to preventive drugs or other services offered by the program. The president's emergency plan for AIDS relief. Move comes after the Trump administration ordered contractors and partners who work with the US for Internal Development or US aid yesterday, to stop work immediately. Atul Gawande, former head of Global Health at USAID had called the Move catastrophic in comments to Reuters. Adding that donated drug supplies keeping 20 million people living with HIV alive, could be affected.
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President Trump directed the federal government not to help with gender transitions for individuals under the age of 19, in an executive order yesterday, as he took a step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to stop gender-affirming care for minors. Trump has set about rolling back transgender rights with executive action since he took office last week. Yesterday's move barred the federal government from funding or helping minors obtain puberty blockers, sex hormones, and surgical procedures. The order applies to healthcare plans for federal employees and plans that are administered through Medicaid, Medicare, and TRICARE, the healthcare program for members of the military and their families.
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A new bird flu outbreak has been discovered in California. The newly reported H5N9 strain was found Monday at a duck farm in Merced County, California, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. The Paris-based organization that studies animal diseases said it's the first verified US case of H5N9 in poultry. The organization said the more common strain, H5N1, was also found. As the number of US bird flu cases steadily increases, entire poultry farms have been wiped out in efforts to control the virus. As for humans, of the more than 600 people exposed to infected animals, 67 tested positive for the disease since 2024. One person infected with bird flu died earlier this month in Louisiana.
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Humanity is at its closest yet to destroying itself, according to yesterday's update of the so-called doomsday clock. The symbolic clock now reads 89 seconds to midnight after advancing one second since last year's reset. It is now the closest to midnight since the introduction of the clock in 1947. It's updated by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which organizes the assessment of how close we are to a self-inflicted end of humanity. For more on the clock and how scientists make their decision, check out my conversation with National correspondent Elizabeth Weise in our Monday edition of the show.
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And today marks the start of Chinese or Lunar New Year, and the start of the year of the Snake. When some people think about AI, they think about all of the jobs that will be lost, but LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman, prefers to see AI from an optimistic point of view.
Reid Hoffman:
When you look at what are the problems created with technology, you can also think what are the solutions? And so AI can help you learn how to do the new job, how to find the right new jobs, how to do those jobs, and help you doing them as well.
Taylor Wilson:
Reid recently joined my colleague Dana Taylor, to talk about the upside of AI. You can hear that conversation right here, beginning at 4:00 PM, Eastern time on this feed.
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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of the Excerpt from Paste BN.