Nevada elected officials and advocates raised alarms Tuesday following the Trump Administration’s announced pause on federal funding for grant, loan and federal financial assistance programs implicated by recent executive orders.

A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s push Tuesday afternoon. Not long after, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford also joined 22 other states’ attorneys general in a separate lawsuit in Rhode Island.

The flurry of directives, unanswered questions and lawsuits has some leaders worrying that a freeze of federal grants, loans and other assistance programs could jeopardize services many Nevadans use — if the plan moves forward.

Sowing confusion

Trump’s order, which was set to go into effect at 2 p.m. Tuesday, was met with confusion across the country and in Nevada, where leaders worried about the status of funding for a variety of services with federal funds. Judge Loren AliKhan’s administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.

Ford’s office said the Trump administration’s directive “unconstitutionally overrides Congress’s power to decide how federal funds are spent,” according to a news release on the Rhode Island-based lawsuit.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, said Tuesday she heard from Nevadans worried about accessing Medicaid and VA benefits, as well as concerns about law enforcement funding, housing assistance, Meals on Wheels and Head Start, a program for early learning and development.

Nevada’s Democratic legislative leaders, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, said the freeze could impact Nevada’s state budget; federal funding accounts for more than one-third of Nevada’s budget. It also funds services provided by local governments, the court system and local nonprofits.

“Trump’s funding freeze will cause massive confusion for Nevada families, delay delivery of vital services in health care and education, and could plunge our state budget into further chaos,” the legislative leaders said in a Tuesday morning statement.

Following the federal judge’s temporary block, Cannizzaro accused the Trump administration of reversing itself and saying the freeze doesn’t apply to as many programs vital to Nevadans. She called the judge’s decision a “temporary victory” and claimed Republicans in D.C. intend to target programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

The directive has already led to some questions from local education officials. The Clark County School District said it was seeking “further clarity on the language contained in the memo” from Trump’s budget office.

“Based on current information, we do not anticipate an immediate interruption to District programs and students’ services,” according to a Tuesday statement. “As we learn more about the impacts of this decision, we will inform our employees, families, and the community.”

Governor’s office on the lookout

Lombardo’s office said it is in communication with the White House and will join in a larger meeting with the Office of Management and Budget to discuss potential impacts to state agencies.

The office said programs with direct benefits to Nevadans such as Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP and Head Start will not see interruptions.

“Despite the shameless political theater on this issue, the Office of the Governor will continue to provide state agencies and Nevadans with timely, accurate and correct information,” the governor’s office said in the statement.

A spokesperson for Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, said his office is engaged in ensuring scheduled payments like Medicaid and education programs are still flowing.

“We’re confident that they are, but that’s where the focus is right now,” Amodei Communications Director Carrie Kwarcinski said in an email.

Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nevada, warned that hospitals and health care providers will be forced to discontinue services, and federally funded infrastructure projects will halt. She also warned that people won’t get the food they need, and federal research into cancer treatment and cures will also pause, she said.

“All of this is just a fraction of what could be affected by Trump’s order,” Lee said. “It’s not just a presidential power grab — it’s plain wrong.”

National outlets reported Tuesday that states’ Medicaid payments were paused. A spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services said the agency was “reviewing funding sources and evaluating the potential impact of the federal grant and loan pause on programs,” but did not specify whether it still had access to funds.

Two cornerstone climate laws to be reviewed

Under threat are programs funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act — legislation that delivered billions in drought funding to the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency tasked with managing water in the West.

In the latter half of the Biden administration, officials touted the historic investments in the Colorado River as the main reason that Lake Mead bounced back from all-time low levels in 2022.

Alex Funk, a water policy expert at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said he’s heard from agencies across the Colorado River Basin that are unable to move forward with projects meant to use funds appropriated up to a year ago under the Biden administration.

As recently as Jan. 10, the Silver State was one of the beneficiaries of this money, with the Bureau of Reclamation awarding the Southern Nevada Water Authority $60 million to fund the removal of decorative grass throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

“Navigating this challenge on the river is going to continue to require federal resources,” Funk said. “The solutions aren’t necessarily going to be cheap ones.”

Green New Deal?

Per Monday’s memo, agencies have until Feb. 10 to submit detailed information about projects that may be subject to the pause.

It specifically calls out the Green New Deal as an umbrella under which funding may be targeted. The progressive set of policy proposals aimed at slowing down climate change was most recently in national conversation when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, failed to move legislation out of the Senate in 2019.

Ben Leffel, a UNLV professor who studies climate change mitigation, said the Green New Deal is being used as a catch-all for any government programs aimed at sustainability, from water conservation to green energy incentives.

“What do you mean, ‘Green New Deal’?” he asked. “Anything to do with climate change? This is an administration by and for oil executives.”

Trump’s actions in his first two weeks don’t bode well for environmental preservation over the next four years, Leffel said.

Energy programs affected, too

Another Nevada program that may be at risk includes the Nevada Clean Energy Fund’s Solar for All program, meant to subsidize the cost of solar panels for homeowners and low-income renters. Home energy rebates authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act could be on the chopping block, too.

Funk, the water policy expert, said he’s hopeful that water conservation funding will emerge unscathed from federal review.

“Most of the funds are also going to pretty rural, red districts,” he said. “These aren’t controversial projects.”

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com, Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com and McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com.

Katie Futterman contributed to this report.