GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

President Trump's efforts to put the brakes on government spending that was already approved by Congress and signed into law have hit a stumbling block.

AMNA NAWAZ: Late this afternoon, a federal judge ordered a temporary halt on a sweeping White House plan to pause funding for all federal grants and loans.

The funding freeze was laid out in a memo from the Office of Management and Budget late yesterday and was set to take effect today.

As Laura Barron-Lopez reports, that led to a flurry of confusion and clarifications.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, White House Press Secretary: Good afternoon, everybody.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: At the first White House briefing of the second Trump administration, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed an unprecedented order by the White House, to freeze all federal financial assistance.

KAROLINE LEAVITT: It is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs.

It means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Leavitt said the pause would not affect individuals receiving -- quote -- "direct assistance" from the government, but didn't answer which specific programs, including Medicaid, were affected.

The action created widespread confusion.

In a statement provided to the "News Hour," Meals on Wheels, a nutrition program which delivers food to millions of seniors, said: "The lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos for local Meals on Wheels providers, not knowing whether they're going to be reimbursed for meals served today, tomorrow.

Who knows how long this could go on."

After the briefing, OMB clarified that mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.

The freeze could still affect trillions of dollars of federal assistance, ranging from funding for disaster relief to health research to infrastructure projects and beyond.

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): Is it woke to fund cancer research or to rebuild an unsafe bridge?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: On Capitol Hill this morning, Senate Democrats lambasted the freeze, calling it an unlawful overreach that disregards funding already passed by Congress.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): No matter how much he may believe he does, the president does not have the authority to ignore the law, and we're going to fight this in every way that we can.

MAN: When he froze it, I'm glad.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: At the GOP policy retreat in Florida, House Republicans deferred to the president.

REP. FRENCH HILL (R-AR): Let's wait and see.

Let's let him do his review and see what the result is, and I'm sure we will work together on what the right solution is.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Legal challenges have already begun.

This afternoon, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a lawsuit to block the funding freeze.

LETITIA JAMES, New York Attorney General: The president does not get to decide which laws to enforce and for whom.

When Congress dedicates funding for a program, the president cannot hold that funding on a whim.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: As some programs remain in limbo, the administration instructed agencies in a follow-up memo obtained by "News Hour" to report to OMB in 10 days if any of the federal aid programs being halted promote things like gender ideology or if it supports abortion or other related activities.

In another move late yesterday, the Justice Department announced that it fired more than a dozen officials who worked with special counsel Jack Smith on the two federal prosecutions of President Trump.

Back in the White House Briefing Room, Karoline Leavitt was asked if Trump directed the firing.

KAROLINE LEAVITT: This was a memo that went out by the Presidential Personnel Office, and the president is the leader of this White House, so yes.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Also last night, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it made 1,179 arrests yesterday, the most in a single day since Trump returned to the White House.

The crackdown has resulted in more than 3,500 arrests since last Thursday.

Last night Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said undocumented migrants with no criminal record will also be deported and defended the administration's decision to allow raids at or near schools, churches and hospitals.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN Anchor: What is the standard, I guess, to go into an elementary school?

Because what we had heard from immigration advocates is that this is going to provide a chilling effect to parents in the school drop-off line or something of that matter.

THOMAS HOMAN, White House Border Czar: It shouldn't be a chilling effect unless your child is a terrorist or a public safety threat.

If they are a public safety threat, a national security threat, they should be chilled.

They should be afraid, because we're looking for them.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: It all came as Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem addressed DHS staff today after joining ICE for a raid in New York City.

And President Trump's Cabinet further solidified today.

MAN: On this vote, the yeas are 77, the nays are 22.

The nomination is confirmed.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The Senate confirmed former Congressman and FOX News host Sean Duffy to be the transportation secretary this afternoon.

Confirmation hearings for more controversial picks like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard are scheduled for later this week.

With minutes to go before the president's freeze on federal grants and loans was set to take effect at 5:00 p.m. today, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked the action -- Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, some late-breaking news there, Laura.

So tell us more about this judge's ruling.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, District Judge Loren AliKhan said that -- there essentially said that there has to be a pause on this freeze that President Trump was trying to institute across the loans and grants.

It is only going to apply, this judge's order only applies to the pause of disbursements in open grants, and that is going to -- this blockade is going to only be until Monday, February 3, when this judge will hear more arguments about the legality or not legality of this action that the White House has taken, but, of course, this comes after a lot of confusion across organizations that rely on this federal assistance.

GEOFF BENNETT: To your point about the confusion, some members of Congress were saying that Medicaid payments had been affected in their states.

The White House then said that Medicaid won't be affected, but give us a sense of what programs might be.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, we don't really have a sense, Geoff.

We asked the White House for a comprehensive list of all the programs that will be affected, and they didn't provide one.

Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, blamed the press for the confusion, but Medicaid Web sites went offline, according to a number of Democratic senators.

Republican leaders in Louisiana asked the White House for more clarity, worried that it could jeopardize their financial assistance.

And so, ultimately, there appears to be a bit of a pattern here, Geoff, which is that Stephen Miller has said and others in the Trump White House have said that they don't believe that the Impoundment Control Act is constitutional.

They don't believe other laws that they are currently potentially violating are constitutional, and so they believe that the president does not have to follow them.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez, our thanks to you, as always.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.