Trump's aid freeze stirs chaos before it is blocked in court

Democrats castigated the funding freeze as an illegal assault on Congress' authority over federal spending, saying it disrupts payments to doctors and preschool teachers

- Agencies

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump's attempt to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid was temporarily blocked in court on Tuesday, even as it sowed chaos throughout the government and stirred fears that it would disrupt programmes that serve tens of millions of Americans.

Minutes before it was due to take effect at 5pm ET, a federal judge blocked Trump's spending freeze that would have affected thousands of federal grant programmes.

US District Judge Loren Ali Khan granted a temporary halt after several advocacy groups argued the freeze would devastate programmes ranging from health care to road construction. The court will revisit the issue on Monday. Trump's sweeping directive was the latest step in his effort to overhaul the federal government, which has already seen the new president halt foreign aid, freeze hiring and shutter diversity programmes across dozens of agencies.