The Tribune spoke with Nicole Hallett, a clinical law professor at University of Chicago, and Diana Rashid, managing attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, to learn more about what

In its quest to get a million electric vehicles on the road by 2030, Illinois was counting on $148 million in federal funding to help build a statewide network of public EV chargers. Now that funding has been frozen — and targeted for possible reduction or elimination — under a wide-ranging executive order that President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office.

Illinois lawmakers are unpacking the implications of President Donald Trump's freeze on federal grants and loans, while the state's attorney general joined a multi-state coalition seeking to block it.

The freeze on federal funding and grants has wide-ranging implications and impacts everything from funding for child care, university research and roads and bridges.

The move follows President Donald Trump’s directive to pause nearly all federal funding. Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people and families, is jointly administered by the federal and state government,

Administration officials said the decision was necessary to ensure that all funding complies with Trump's executive orders, which are intended to undo progressive steps on transgender rights, environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts. But what will that mean for you?

The tie-up accessing funds puts the short-term future of 3.9 million Illinoisans who rely on the government program into question.

The White House will pause all federal grants and loans, plunging organizations that rely on the money into confusion.

It was a few minutes before news broke that a judge had blocked the Trump administration's freeze on federal funding. In his remarks, Miller said that a pause on federal funding would allow the government to get "credit control".

President Trump's priorities of immigration enforcement and promoting U.S. interests in the Panama Canal lead the political agenda in Washington.

"Let's be clear, January 20th was an inauguration, not a coronation. Congress is given the power to appropriate the funding. The executive branch cannot unilaterally disregard those appropriations," Raoul said.